Meantime

On Saturday I was moored on a BA mooring. In front of me was a boat from a hire yard very near by. Behind me was a boat from the same hire yard. It soon became obvious that both boats were together. About 30 mins later another boat from the same yard attempted to double moor to the boat in front of me. I had to go out and fend it off from hitting me. It was under instruction from the yard hand from the yard at the end of it's handover and he had to step over the side and help fend off and apologise to me. With a struggle he got the boat alongside the boat in front of me and tied it off to the boat in front of me. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but when double mooring shouldn't the ropes from the outside boat still go ashore, not to the boat already moored? Anyway, after a little while and much toing and froing amongst the three boats a fourth boat appeared and held station in the river behind me. All four boats were together and completed the party and were now off. I was on maximum alert as the tide was coming in towards me and the double moored boat in front was facing away from me, but the other boat on the inside was facing me. In front of me frantic untying of all ropes occurred on both boats at the same time!!!! The double moored one departed with a good hefty clout to the bow of the one in front of me, probably fortunate that it's ropes were already undone ready for departure!!! Then the one in front of me started to leave heading straight for me. I have never moved so fast, but managed to get him to stop and then suggested he reversed off into the tide that was clearly coming in from behind him. It worked, he got away safely and my gel coat lives to tell the tale another day. I later watched the same yard hand have two attempts at stern mooring an empty boat outside the yard!!! I cannot comment on the incident above, but my own experience from last Saturday tells me that the yard hand was not experienced enough to be doing hand overs, let alone the crews he left to go on their merry crashing way. I'm only glad when we left we were heading South and the other four boats had headed upriver. On the Sunday morning I was heading for Yarmouth and witnessed a boat having overtaken me when a boy of about 8 or 9 exited from a side door onto the side deck and walked bare foot down the deck with no lifejacket, down a couple of steps and then into the back door. His Father at the upper helm position never once looked around. I won't mention the boat, but it was far too similar to one I'm sure we are all too familiar with. I was as nervous as hell until that child was inside. Was he just a very poor parent, or was he not aware of the risks? and who's fault was that? Yards shouldn't be scaring people coming on holiday, but people need to be made aware of all the reasonable risks. The two incidents I experienced involved two different yards and from the description of the incident with the woodie wasn't either of them. Are handovers being conducted properly on boats that are more powerful, complex and larger than days gone by, I won't answer that, but I have my own opinion.

In my experience that is often the case. A tenant goes in at market rate and after 12 months you are keen not to upset them, so no rent increase. You don't want the hassle or expense of a turnaround and finding new tenants or any down time. Then at some point you decide a modest rent increase is needed, but that still leaves you at below market rate. The gap grows ever bigger and it is very hard to recover the situation. The situation continues until they eventually decide to leave and you can relet at the market rate again. I know of friends who are renting from someone else at £1100 per month. The landlord wants to sell up so has given them a section 21 notice to quit as is his right. They are really upset with him because the average rental on a like for like basis is now £1450 per month and they will have to find extra for the deposit. The Government is looking to remove section 21 otherwise known as no fault evictions and this is one more reason why many landlords are looking to move out of the business. Many bought property to fund their retirement rather than invest in personal pension plans. The extra hassle of being able to recover their money when they want to retire is making many reevaluate their plans. Myself being one of them.

That is one possibility, although I had a slightly different view on it myself. Commercial leases normally have rent reviews at a regular period, normally three or five years. After three years you would expect a reasonable rent increase and your business should be budgeting for it before it occurs. IF, the tenant is looking to retire sometime soon, then perhaps it is more favourable to move to a new premises, on a more favourable short term rent until they retire. In return the new landlord would eventually receive the goodwill and possibly continue the business thereafter. We don't know the facts, and it is even possible that the lease is nearing the end and the tenant didn't want to entertain renegotiating a new lease on new terms with plans for retirement. Again reading between the lines, if the purchasers of The Angel have still to complete, and bearing in mind Smoggy's post above, it maybe possible that the "greedy" landlord has agreed to a revised rent increase, or even a short term extension so that Rosy's can stay where it is until retirement.

As is often the case where only partial facts are known, it would seem there will be more to this than initially meets the eye. As of the 8th July the potential purchasers of The Angel Inn have yet to complete the deal to purchase the pub, though it would appear to be imminent and I wish them all the best with their project. They also mention on their Facebook page that Rosy's will be joining them, until she retires, so how much was that a factor in negotiations at the previous premises? More on this exciting project can be found HERE

Unfortunately its a fact of life and they should be. We all moan about the increase in prices in supermarkets, but what we are seeing is the result of price increases all the way back down the line from the field to the shelf with everyone in between wanting a pay increase to help them cope. Only recently I sat down the pub with my Brother who moaned about the local pub putting the price of Guinness up by 35p a pint. Whilst it hurts I reminded him that the bar staff are only on minimum wage and also deserve an increase, (he agreed he wouldn't do the job) and also reminded him about his recent £15 a day increase in pay as a carpenter. He hasn't mentioned the increase in beer since, but still moans about the price of diesel!

I cannot agree with MM strongly enough. We do not know the full details of this case, but a landlords lot is not a happy and greedy one! in lots of cases. There are increasing overheads, accountants and managing agents have put up their prices, which in turn gets passed onto the landlord. Believe it or not they also pay tax, which appears to be at an all time high. Add in the various bits of legislation regarding gas and electrical certification, who by the way have put their prices up, the need for an EPC certificate, which costs. Some local authorities require you to register as a landlord, which unsurprisingly is not free. I've just had my landlord insurance renewal in, it's gone up by 20%. Then there is the future prospect of having to improve the energy rating of the property to a minimum level else it cannot be let. Again this work isn't cheap or free. It is no surprise that at present record numbers of landlords are looking to sell and get out of the business. There is a need for rental property and the pool of available properties is shrinking, (different subject, but AirBnB have something to do with it as well) with the resulting pressure on rental prices going up even further. I am speaking as a residential landlord, but many of the pressures are the same for commercial landlords. Everybody is entitled to a fair increase in their income to cover the rising cost of living, why should landlords be any exception? I wonder how many establishments have put up the price of their mugs of coffee or cups of tea, or a full English? I bet quite a few with the justification that they need to cover the cost of price increases to them. Why is the landlord any different?

Best find the nearest hostelry with an open fire going, failing that, just find your nearest hostelry.

I don't think you will find the head chef cooks crisps on a day to day basis. When Chris Bernard joined Kettle Chips his first role was to take the American recipes and Anglicise them for the UK market. There is a world of difference between a cook and a chef. A cook will often work in chain establishments such as Stonegate or Greene King and cooks meals to a pre defined recipe often using pre prepared and cater pack ingredients. A chef has significantly more training, understands flavours, is normally responsible for creating the menu and recipes from scratch for cooks to follow. Restaurants such as The Recruiting Sargent, St Benedicts in Norwich and The Ingham Swan all use chefs, which is all too often reflected in the price you pay for the meal. A chef will also have the knowledge and experience of how to rescue a dish and rebalance the flavours if one of the key ingredients is missing, or not up to usual standards. From one season to the next and even during the course of the season the crops of potatoes and other key ingredients will slightly change and allowances and adjustments will need to be made to the cooking process to allow for it. Chris Barnard lists one of his career highlights as being responsible for the introduction of Balsamic vinegar and sea salt flavour crisps. Many have since copied this flavouring, though Chris uses Balsamic sourced directly from Modena.

Thanks, I suspect it wasn't Bennigans for long. Still cannot find anything definitive on it. My interest was caught by something that appeared on my Facebook feed. Quote "1989 WHILE DINING AT NORFOLK BROADS RESTAURANT BENNIGAN'S... …Cameron Healy and UK Co-owner, Tim Meyers, got talking to owner and chef Chris Barnard, in whom he recognised a true passion for authentic foods and ingredients. Sharing Cameron’s vision, Chris soon packed up his utensils and recipe books to join us in setting up the UK branch of Kettle Foods" Chris Barnard stayed as head chef with Kettle crisps until he retired in 2016. Cameron Healy apparently came to Norfolk once he heard of the UK's love of crisps and also because Norfolk was famed for it's potato crops. To this day Kettle crisps are still produced in Norfolk. If anyone likes Kettle crisps and wants to order some from their website, they are offering free delivery and if you enter KETTLECHIPS22 you will get a 10% discount on your order. I should point out I have nothing to do with Kettle Chips and if admin feel that posting the discount code breaches any terms then please remove it, but thought there maybe some who are partial to Norfolk's crisps.

It's possible. All I can find is reference to his former Norfolk Broads restaurant, but it doesn't say where it was.

No this would have been circa 1989 and definitely a restaurant, as the chef moved on to to be a partner in another business.

Just been reading something and I've come across mention of a restaurant in The Norfolk Broads called Bennigans around 1989. I've never heard mention of it and wondered where it might have been. I believe there was a chain of restaurants in the good ole US of A called Bennigans, and don't know if it was connected or more than likely just a one of. There just might be a small reward if anyone knows the answer, but since I don't know the answer, I'll have to take it on trust your telling the truth!

If you still have a week left, then the best is yet to come weather wise. Enjoy and hopefully it's not too long before your back again.

I believe it was three Brillo pads, so more than a lifetimes supply

I'm sure there's ways around it, but it all just adds to the bottom line of the project.

Unfortunately I think Mr Vole is being a pain in the proverbial at the moment.

I didn't read anywhere in his question that he felt he was being short changed!!! Just a genuine concern that he didn't know how full the tank was and was worried about running out of fuel as it was a three week hire. If you don't know it is best to ask. On my very first hire which was only for a week we called into another yard for a pump out and enquired whether we would also need to put some fuel in. We hadn't been told it would last the week and we didn't know.

You ask the question are you expecting too much? and on the surface the answer is probably no until you consider the following. Most hires are for a week long period. A few will do a longer 10 or 11 day hire and even less a 2 week hire. You are very much in the minority and unchartered waters to some degree by hiring for 3 weeks. Hire boats go out at the start of the hire with a full tank and even in the depths of Winter are unlikely to run out of fuel on a weeks hire unless it has a leak. They come back at the end of the week and get brimmed again and the hirer pays the cost, unless it was an all inclusive deal with fuel included. To that end the hire yard doesn't really need to know what the average fuel consumption of each boat is. It is virtually unheard of for a hire boat to run out of fuel. You are in a somewhat unique situation of being out for three weeks and are one of the few hires where running out of fuel may become an issue. The best advice and it appears to be what the yard has given you is to not take a chance and fill up. This could be to your advantage as the yard will charge you on your return at their current diesel price. If you fill up out Boulters one of the cheapest places on The Broads then you will be filling up with far less upon your return and will get back a lot more of your fuel deposit. In fact i would go as far as to say fill up for peace of mind and then if possible fill up again one or two days before returning your boat. My own boat is an ex hire boat and has a 175 litre tank. The most I have done between fills, and the tank was no where near empty, was 280 miles. That would suffice for me pootling around the Northern Broads for 3 to 4 weeks, but then again I don't rush anywhere and like Marshman tend to go with the tides, especially on the lower reaches. Ultimately your question is a bit like how long is a piece of string? My advice would be very similar to the hire yard. Fill up for peace of mind and look forward to a decent return of your fuel deposit.

Pretty much the same, but the prices are different. Both the New Inn and The Commodore are a part of the Classic Inns brand of Stonegate pubs, which means the menus will be broadly similar to each other. Having said that Stonegate are no different to the likes of Greene King where even though the menu is the same between a lot of their pubs, the prices will reflect local factors such as the running costs and what they think the market will take. No different to many chains. A Big Mac in Heathrow airport is going to cost you more than a Big Mac at your local retail park. Horning has three pubs and a small village population outside of the tourist season so probably needs to be more keenly priced to survive all year round, whereas Oulton Broad has quite a large catchment area. I also suspect they are trying to trade off the good name and goodwill created by the previous tenant Moss and Co, who did provide a good standard of food far in excess of the offering currently being provided by Stonegate.

The restaurant is Shish Anatolia a Turkish restaurant. Seems to be popular although haven't tried it yet. I'm guessing it's the same people who own the restaurant further down Bridge road. I haven't checked but if it is the same people I would imagine the other restaurant may have closed, so effectively a relocation closer to the main night time hub of Oulton Broad. The Copper Smokehouse has a doggy den in the garden dining area, so they must be dog friendly, although whether that is only for outside dining I don't know.

Was about to say that the food is average at best, but the beer selection is ok, although I hadn't really looked at the price. It is noticeably quieter though since they decided not to renew the lease for Moss and Co and take the pub back in house. I thought maybe just the locals supporting a local business and giving the national chain the cold shoulder, but maybe it is more than that. Certainly my food a couple of weeks ago was average chain pub food. My tip for a decent pint and excellent food is The Ivy House Country Hotel. It is hotel / restaurant or upper gastro style pub food at the price you would expect for those kind of places, however the food is really good, the menu has a good choice and I should whisper this, but Mon thru Thursday and including Friday lunchtime they are doing 25% off the food which makes it excellent value for money as well. It is a pleasant walk through Nicholas Everitt Park and past Tingdene marina and about 200 yards and turn back inland to reach the hotel, or follow The Angles Way from Oulton Broad South rail station for about half a mile. Oulton Broad has become my second home when in Norfolk and not on the boat and just for a pint you cannot beat the outlook from The Wherry Hotel although the bar service can leave you feeling weary, alternatively The Commodore garden is a great place to watch the sunset, but I would definitely eat at The Ivy House. A good second for food is The Copper House Smokehouse if you like smoked / BBQ style food. I've yet to try it but The Flying Dutchmen caught my eye on Facebook recently and the menu didn't look bad, but the exterior of the pub has always put me off and I've never bothered to venture up that way. One to be tried sometime soon.

I don't think so. If you look at the confirmation statement from the previous year it runs to 133 pages and lists all the individual limited companies or sole traders who were shareholders of NISA Retail Limited. Each with differing numbers of shares. I guess depending on whether they had one shop or a few shops in a local area. There are approx 12 entries per page and the statement runs to 133 pages, so somewhere in the region of 1600 individual shareholders owning 59760 shares between them. I don't know how much the co-op paid for NISA Retail Limited but each of the shareholders would have got a percentage based upon the numbers of shares they held, although more than likely it was a sale of convenience to offload the wholesale arm and give them access to the improved buying power of the co-op as well as the expanded product range. companies_house_document (1).pdf

Somebody also needs to inform the Government then, or more specifically Companies House!!!! Company Name NISA RETAIL LIMITED Company Number 00980790 Confirmation Statement date 17/08/2018 Shareholding 1: 59760 ORDINARY shares held as at the date of this confirmation statement Name: CO-OPERATIVE GROUP HOLDINGS (2011) LIMITED I think your misunderstanding stems from the following. All of the independent shops trading under the NISA logos were also shareholders of NISA Retail Limited, which despite its name was actually the wholesaler and distribution to all the independent shops. These independent shops as shareholders of NISA Retail Limited company number 00980790 have sold that business to the Co-op, who is the sole shareholder of NISA Retail Limited. In return the independent shops benefit from the increased buying power of the co-op as well as an expanded product range and get to continue using the NISA logo's and branding. The independent shops remain exactly that, independent, but they no longer have any stake in what used to be their wholesale / distribution arm, NISA Retail Limited. The independent shops get to do what they do best, running their own independent business without having to worry about being shareholders off and having a say in running a much larger more complex wholesale and distribution business. Whichever way you look at it, the facts are NISA Retail Limited is wholly owned by the Co-operative Group and the independent stores operating under the NISA branding continue to be exactly that, independent businesses and no longer shareholders of NISA Retail Limited. companies_house_document.pdf

You might want to tell NISA to update their website then!! 2017 It’s our 40th Birthday! 2018 In May 2018 the Co-op completed its acquisition of Nisa Retail Limited. Link to NISA website

The not running engines at moorings from 8pm to 8am is becoming stealth legislation of the worst example as it potentially legitimises running them between 8am to 8pm at moorings. The fact is it is NOT backed up in any way by a byelaw and can not be enforced by the BA. The byelaw prohibits making a smoke or noise nuisance at moorings at ANY time. I would class a running diesel for hours on end as both at a mooring. The BA have a byelaw, so why do they chose to put advice, they cannot enforce, on their mooring signs rather than the actual byelaw? It doesn't make sense!