Throwers In Ludham

[VetChugger]

Sadly I have read that Throwers has been sold and that the new owners will only keep the post office. This is a great shame as I loved the deli there and just wandering around the rest of the shop. Unfortunately typical of the way local trade seems to be heading. Will miss that shop!!

 

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

4 hours ago, VetChugger said:

Sadly I have read that Throwers has been sold and that the new owners will only keep the post office. This is a great shame as I loved the deli there and just wandering around the rest of the shop. Unfortunately typical of the way local trade seems to be heading. Will miss that shop!!

 

Is Throwers the shop opposite the pub on the North side of the main road?. If so, that`s a real shame, as village stores are extremely vital to be kept going. We ALWAYS use village shops whenever we`re on holiday somewhere, use them or lose them.

[YnysMon]

Ooh, that’s terrible! Always thought Ludham a really good example of a village that kept its core amenities going. What worries me even more, the reduced ‘footfall’ for the ex-Throwers might impact on the (excellent) butchers.

[JennyMorgan]

https://www.rightbiz.co.uk/buy_business/for_sale/231513_norfolk.html

The original building looks ready for a tad of attention!

It will be a sad loss to Ludham. My wife and I generally managed a few visits a year. Coming from a family of shop keepers I can only say that there are easier ways of making a living, hence I only spent a few years in the family business, a grocer I was not! Was a time when a well managed village shop could be a little gold-mine but probably not now. 

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

27 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

https://www.rightbiz.co.uk/buy_business/for_sale/231513_norfolk.html

The original building looks ready for a tad of attention!

It will be a sad loss to Ludham. My wife and I generally managed a few visits a year. Coming from a family of shop keepers I can only say that there are easier ways of making a living, hence I only spent a few years in the family business, a grocer I was not! Was a time when a well managed village shop could be a little gold-mine but probably not now. 

Unfortunately, out of town superstores and on-line buying has killed the village shopping. Everybody moans about it, but look at how many buy on-line at every opportunity. You can`t have your cake and eat it as they say. Village shops are not there just to look pretty, they`re a vital local amenity.

[YnysMon]

So sad. One of the reasons Graham and I had fallen in love with Norfolk was villages like Ludham, that seemed to be bucking the trend of village amenities closing down.

[ChrisB]

I was told it was to continue as a shop and Post Office, it was only the fresh counter food that was being discontinued. 

The Butchers is now run, I believe, by the old proprieters of Swayfield, by the canal bridge who were always very strong on the "cold meats and pies" bit, so, if true there will be no loss of amenity to the village.

[Mouldy]

8 hours ago, YnysMon said:

So sad. One of the reasons Graham and I had fallen in love with Norfolk was villages like Ludham, that seemed to be bucking the trend of village amenities closing down.

Same for us.  Being in villages like Ludham reminds me of how things used to be when I was much younger.  I hope that it does continue as a shop.  It has that wonderful atmosphere that bigger supermarkets lack.

[JennyMorgan]

1 hour ago, ChrisB said:

I was told it was to continue as a shop and Post Office, it was only the fresh counter food that was being discontinued.

It was the fresh food aspect of the store that made it worth visiting. I note that the turnover was £600k but with the minimum wages. high business rates and low profit margins I rather suspect that selling up proved all too attractive!

[Heron]

I hope the buyers have the right business plan. If the deli is a good draw, discontinueing it could have a big effect reducing other sales as customers have a habit of going elsewhere. I assume it will continue as a convenience store and post office and I wish them well, but they will have to match the current owners reputation.

 

[woodwose]

Ludham is a great place to live and like any village, you get plenty of village gossip. When a shop is for sale, there is bound to be a lot of speculation about what the new owners will or won't do. This is especially true for a shop like Throwers which has been in the same family for over 100 years.

I have heard most of the stories in this thread repeated in village gossip starting pretty much as soon as the shop went on the market. However, until the shop is actually sold there is not much point in speculating about what the new owners are going to do (or not do) since we don't actually know who the new owners will be.

The Ludham Butchers recently changed hands and there were changes as a result, but the shop continues and I still get my meat there. When Throwers changes hands we will undoubtably see changes there too. Change isn't necessarily a bad thing.

In the past there were a lot more shops in Ludham than there are now. At the time that the Thrower family bought the shop, the village was largely self sufficient and you could get everything you needed locally. If you wanted to go shopping in Norwich, it was an all day trip on the carrier's cart and not worth the effort for most people. Times have changed and you can be in an out of town shop very quickly now and we are all buying on-line too. Village shops are not immune to these processes. Let's hope the new owners can keep the shop going and the business viable for many years to come.

Nigel (Ludham)

[vanessan]

 Nigel - how long ago did the butcher’s change hands?

[marshman]

Probably about 2/3 years ago - and probably better for it.

 

[JennyMorgan]

Nigel, as I read your comment it looks like Throwers has not yet been sold whilst earlier in this thread it appears that it had.

[NorfolkNog]

I think we can safely say that Nigel knows his onions with all things Ludham. 

It's the same when pubs come up for sale - you tend to get a lot of speculation. 

[vanessan]

1 hour ago, marshman said:

Probably about 2/3 years ago - and probably better for it.

 

Thanks marshman, from Nigel’s post I got the impression it was more recent. I have been in the butchers many times this year and always enjoy their meat. We especially like their pasties and recommend them unreservedly. I do hope Throwers doesn’t change too much, it is one of the few remaining village stores where you can buy almost anything. 

[Puddleduck2]

If all the villagers had used the deli , so that the accountants could see that it was a valued part of the shop, then I suspect that it might not now be closed. Unfortunately too many people want to get everything in one purchase at the supermarkets, or have their shopping delivered, so we will all now be forced to buy our deli items 5 or 6 miles away from Ludham.

[HEM]

I recall some pre-war (WW II) tale  - I think it was about the butchers in Ludham - from our neighbours when I used to live in Bramhall (Stockport...) back in the 60s & 70s.

Our next-door neighbour old Mrs. Kent (her father had at one time been Lord Mayor of Manchester) told the story that in the 1930s the enlarged family would spend their Summer holidays on the Norfolk Broads - she produced photographs of 3 wherries that they all hired.  Apparently whilst in Ludham (I suspect Womack Water) they needed to buy food & so a deputation went to the butchers. 

On entering there was only the wife present who said that she would have to get her husband from the pub in order to serve them.  However Mrs. K's father announced that he was a butcher by trade (subsequently Kents Meat Pies) & that he would cut the meat & the wife would weigh up & take the money.  And so the masses were fed that day,.

[JennyMorgan]

6 hours ago, Puddleduck2 said:

If all the villagers had used the deli , so that the accountants could see that it was a valued part of the shop, then I suspect that it might not now be closed. Unfortunately too many people want to get everything in one purchase at the supermarkets, or have their shopping delivered, so we will all now be forced to buy our deli items 5 or 6 miles away from Ludham.

Hello Puddleduck, I take it that you are a Ludhamite. Although not from Ludham myself I do wonder if my use of deli's might not be relatively typical. We don't use any of our local deli counters for day to day eating but we do treat oureselves when on holiday or having a day out or special occasion, such as were our spasmodic trips to Throwers. Perhaps the average good folk of Ludham treated their local deli similarly? 

[vanessan]

10 hours ago, Puddleduck2 said:

then I suspect that it might not now be closed.

Is it closed already?

[Puddleduck2]

Deli stock is very run down and is not being replaced.

On a similar  sad note, the butchers in Horning has also closed recently.

[CambridgeCabby]

1 hour ago, Puddleduck2 said:

 

On a similar  sad note, the butchers in Horning has also closed recently.

Can you confirm this ? As their web page makes no mention of it and indeed lists the opening hours as normal .

edited to add 

after checking their Facebook page can confirm that they have indeed closed their Horning outlet , very sad indeed 

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

2 hours ago, CambridgeCabby said:

Can you confirm this ? As their web page makes no mention of it and indeed lists the opening hours as normal .

edited to add 

after checking their Facebook page can confirm that they have indeed closed their Horning outlet , very sad indeed 

Nowhere near Norfolk, but down here in our village (West Moors in East Dorset) we have an excellent butchers that we always use. They sell mostly locally produced meats, home made pies, free range eggs, as well as a lot of speciality cheeses (yes Alan "RB" it`s where i found Black Bomber) etc, where you always have difficulty finding elsewhere.  If you live in a small community, it`s vital to shop locally to keep the small community businesses going. Yes you may pay a little more at a proper butchers, but we`ve always found the quality of meat etc far superior.

[JennyMorgan]

4 hours ago, Puddleduck2 said:

Deli stock is very run down and is not being replaced.

On a similar  sad note, the butchers in Horning has also closed recently.

That is sad. have had some good stuff from there and it always seemed busy but that is during the summer months. I would imagine that their winters are long though. Regretfully too many landords fail to allow for the fact that many if not most riverside businesses are seasonal.

[woodwose]

Hi All

Sorry I am a bit slow in reponding to these things.

Just to be clear. All Ludham Businesses remain open. Throwers is still trading and there is no problem there.

The shop is for sale and when it is sold, the new owners may or may not make changes.

Nigel (Ludham)