JennyMorgan

The pub has been closed for five regrettable years now, plenty of time to make good that fire damage. Up to now everything has been done on the cheap, both the cafe and the application itself.

Re the 'on the hoof' modified application, all very well, but the original application clearly and understandably set the alarm bells ringing and the Authority was, in my opinion, right to object. Folk music, ancient and modern, is one of my great passions but I have to suggest that the genre of the music is not the issue, even folk music can be excessively amplified. A well worded business plan by the applicant would be appreciated. The raves at Beauchamp were great for those of us who attended but I really wouldn't wish to see them transferred to Berney. Okay, the applicant has said 'no raves', but I'm not convinced.

If the applicant considers that a marquee is required then why not re-open the pub? An ill considered application, in my opinion.

Having reread the licence application as posted by Tom I am left wondering as to what customer base the applicant was hoping to attract? Moving music into a marquee is not likely to reduce the toxic, sub sonic boom-boom by a measurable amount. We had many of these same issues in regard to a music venue on the marshes at Oulton Broad. A marquee was tried and it certainly was not the answer. In my view the application for Berney was ill considered, irresponsible even, and the outcome entirely predictable.

Sound levels are measured relative to background noise which on the Broads can be next to nil. I'm no expert but a gentleman who is explained to me that sound over water is a science in its own right. He also stated that in some circumstances sound can actually increase over water and marshland. A year or two ago now my wife and I spent the night at Geldeston Locks, not knowing when we moored up that there was going to be a wedding lock-down that night which was to go on until well past four in the morning. Going to sleep before it finished was not an option.

It gave me a break! Eight times a week is taking its toll!

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/broads-authority-sandra-beckett-retirement-1-6763749 Note that 40 years ago there were only three people at BA HQ. The Broads community will generally miss Sandra. A delightful, diplomatic and quietly efficient person, one of the good ones.

The events at Beauchamp did tend to be 'drum and bass', the bass being the problem. One night I was moored at Cantley and the boom-boom thump-thump of the bass at Beauchamp was clearly audible, several miles away. Indeed I did hear that it was also heard at Reedham. No, it wasn't from somewhere else, my daughter was one of the DJ's! Some years ago, about twenty, it was one of my daughter's 18th birthday, that was an event and a half. We had borrowed the sound system from the Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club, bigger than we thought! The speakers were aimed out across the marshes rather than towards our neighbours. The next day a friendly 'copper' from Beccles, some ten or so miles away as the crow flies, had been out for most of the night searching for a rave. I don't suppose it was thought that a so called posh area of Oulton Broad would be host to such an event! I kept suitably quiet! The point being that sound can travel for many miles across the flat marshes and they aren't much flatter than they are at Berney!

Over many years I've repeatedly heard the oft repeated complaint about the Broads in 'that there is nothing to do'. Inevitably I don't agree with that but that has never stopped people making that comment. This year might well be the year of the Stay-cation, but will people return? Not if doors remain closed and events cancelled they won't.

This morning my wife and I went to what is normally a hugely popular car boot sale. Got to say that I was expecting the crowds thus we were cautious and masked up!. Surprise, no massive crowd! Hard to be accurate but, despite the sunshine, I suspect that both stalls and customers were down by at least 30 if not 50% over the same time during normal times. Talking to one of the regular stall holders, with whom we have struck up a friendship over the years, he commented that people were behaving themselves but by and large they weren't spending. A sign of the times and times to come perhaps?

Some private boats are 'tolls paid', the ones still on the bank and in the boatsheds are almost certainly 'tolls not paid'. No tolls from the speedboats this year and with so many regattas cancelled I know that several sailing club boats are therefore not being launched this year. Agree that it is the support businesses that are most likely to suffer shortfalls. The unfortunate knock on effect of that is that if we lose any such businesses then the Broads become less attractive to holiday makers.

Why would they want to do that? Because they can! Recently another excellent member of the BA's staff has retired, this time after forty years. The BA published well deserved accolades pointing out that forty years ago there were only three members of staff at head-office. The Broads has not increased its area of control over that time, despite continuous efforts in that direction, but staffing levels have mushroomed out of all proportion. I suspect that we shall have to endure the by now traditional percentage increase due to inflation that we all look forward to but any attempt to make up this year's shortfall will surely not be unanimously popular. Yare House and the NP agenda are both long overdue a pretty severe cull, in my honest opinion.

You and I agree on this one. Not only a great pub but a wonderful B&B, a stop-over for ramblers and backpackers. The building needs to be sold at an attractive price to an attractive couple both with attractive ideas and vision and looking forward, not backwards. The stumbling block, and the same can be said for the Beauchamp Arms, is the owner.

No harm in making predictions I suppose. The pub is, unfortunately, abandoned as such and its owner seems to be determined to convert into a private house. If that wasn't the plan then why the change of use application on the outhouse rather than reopening the pub? So what now? The landowner has stated that there will be no moorings outside the pub but who is going to enforce that? Unrestricted, free moorings can be attractive. The pub is unused and presumably empty, will there be a caretaker, who will ensure that no one breaks in and dosses there? It's not a twenty-four hour mooring, exempt from BA mooring regulations . . . . . . . . by now I suspect that you can see what I'm leading up to. I don't think that it will be a pretty sight. On the other hand, if the RSPB warden was to move in. It's not over yet, not by a long chalk.

When I had the Waveney Inn, because of its then desolate, vulnerable location, I had to meet several conditions before I could insure the place. One being that there was a resident manager, 24/7/365 plus a very well protected cellar. Not quite Fort Knox but a fair amount of steel being involved! Arguably Berney has a higher degree of natural security by virtue of its location and restricted access. However, I have to agree with Howard:

Slow food then?

As much as I enjoy Costa I am swayed by an American friend's very apt description of the company, 'Costa-Lot', Starbucks being 'Mega-Bucks'. Considering the price comparison with Wetherspoons, and the fact that there is no duty on coffee but there is on beer, then Costa and co certainly know how to charge!

Talking of lobbing made me think of a solution for Ludham, Potter and Wroxham Bridges. A scaled up trebuchet that could lob a fully laden holiday cruiser over rather than under a bridge could be a real bonus attraction for boat hirers. Save a trip to Gt Yarmouth to visit the Pleasure Beach.

I would never have guessed! However, many a wise word written in jest! I still think a drive though, drive under at Ludham Bridge, could be an absolute gold mine. Phone through your order one mile from the bridge. Of course there would be suitable and customary McD signage for several miles along the river bank either side of the bridge. You wouldn't need to stop, as you pass under the bridge your order would be dumped on the cabin top via a chute, perhaps even aimed directly at open, slavering mouths.

I often wonder!

According to this report the Broads are probably too flat. Have you ever encountered any hills as you gently cruise between Stalham and Wroxham? A drive though at Ludham Bridge would seem to be an attractive and obvious proposition but the rivers of Norfolk are deceptively flat. A drive through Adnams off-licence would be good! https://www.suffolkgazette.com/news/new-anti-obesity-law-forces-mcdonalds-kfc-and-burger-king-to-open-on-hills/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mailpoet+tooth+fairy

I have to agree with Ian on this one. We all have a choice and mine is to go along with his thoughts. My NHS daughter appears to be thinking on similar lines. Like me she is wary of outlets that rely on a one meter distancing rule. For example the reopening of playgrounds has to be open to question. My daughter simply avoids visiting our local park at Oulton Broad because of the temptation for her two young boys of the play area. How do you explain to a two and a four year old lively boy that they can't join in? I walk past the play area most days and very clearly the majority of young parents simply ignore any suggestion of social distancing. As for hygiene, what hygiene? Irresponsible or what? In a close knit community perhaps not a problem but with visiting holiday makers being an unknown quantity there is inevitably a risk. If my grandchildren were to pick up Covid 19 then their mum would not be able to work on the Covid ward as she does. Mind you, the hospital where she works is Covid 19 free at the moment!

My wife and I went to our local hospital today where we were both offered face coverings which we wore for the duration of our visit, some forty five minutes. We were so glad to take them off as we left, the darned things made us both horribly hot. We will wear them but with reservations.

Naa, that's boring!