Lion At Thurne & White Horse Neatishead

[RickWhiteHorse]

It’s been a while all!

Hope that we can get back to normality sometime soon.

We have been busy redecorating and reorganising since our short summer and would love to hear and thoughts/feedback how we can improve going forward if anyone has any.

Cheers as always

Rick and team 

[Chelsea14Ian]

Very much hope to visit at sometime in the not distance future. Always enjoy going to both pubs. Marina very much likes dairy free ice-cream.Best wishes Ian

[RickWhiteHorse]

8 minutes ago, Chelsea14Ian said:

Very much hope to visit at sometime in the not distance future. Always enjoy going to both pubs. Marina very much likes dairy free ice-cream.Best wishes Ian

Hope your well after your ‘scrape’

been looking at the dairy free ice cream for a while, any brand you recommend?

 

rick

[Chelsea14Ian]

I think one was from Tesco We used to get one at the New Inn Horning.Ive sent a text to Ann she thinks from Makro or pilgrim foods.

[NorfolkNog]

Hi Rick

Good to hear from you. I am a big fan of both pubs and look forward to visiting again as soon as possible. 

I very much appreciate the model you and the team work to and can't really think of anything I would change. There are many positives. I am a big real ale fan and think the choice and quality of your beers is very good indeed. I know that Ian Stamp speaks very highly of you. Your team members are also excellent - always friendly and helpful. Give Rachael a particular mention. 

We often come in winter and I appreciate the way that you keep the pubs open (particularly the Lion) when trade is less busy. We have never been kicked out early from either pub in the evening which is not the case with some Broads pubs I'm afraid! 

I would basically say keep doing what you do extremely well!

All the best

Howard 

[Karizma]

Local live music is always a great addition (as well as a good selection of real ales).

Use to love mooring up at Reedham ferry back in the day to listen to Jon Collorick.

Will definitely pay you a visit when things get 'back to normal'.

[YnysMon]

I’ve loved both pubs. However, the best meal we had was our first visit to the White Horse in early 2017: Confit Duck Legs, fracassee of bean and pea and  red currant jus. It was memorable!
More recently, although we have mostly enjoyed our food we’ve felt the menu has been adapted to suit prevailing tastes, so for us there are fewer interesting menu options and unwanted bigger portions (last time we visited The Lion the portions the dishes we had were so big as to be off putting). I’d rather pay for something more interesting but a smaller portion. Is there any way you can accommodate those conflicting customer choices?

[MauriceMynah]

How about 3 different portion sizes for the same meals, Ladies, Gentlemen and Gutsies.

[RickWhiteHorse]

10 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

Hi Rick

Good to hear from you. I am a big fan of both pubs and look forward to visiting again as soon as possible. 

I very much appreciate the model you and the team work to and can't really think of anything I would change. There are many positives. I am a big real ale fan and think the choice and quality of your beers is very good indeed. I know that Ian Stamp speaks very highly of you. Your team members are also excellent - always friendly and helpful. Give Rachael a particular mention. 

We often come in winter and I appreciate the way that you keep the pubs open (particularly the Lion) when trade is less busy. We have never been kicked out early from either pub in the evening which is not the case with some Broads pubs I'm afraid! 

I would basically say keep doing what you do extremely well!

All the best

Howard 

Thanks Howard, 

hopefully we can carry on in the same vein. We have added a bottled/can beer fridge into the lion also for reopening to expand the range a bit further.

rachel will be looking after the horse in the near term to help build local support up again so that should be positive.

see you both for a bevvy soon enough

 

[RickWhiteHorse]

8 hours ago, Karizma said:

Local live music is always a great addition (as well as a good selection of real ales).

Use to love mooring up at Reedham ferry back in the day to listen to Jon Collorick.

Will definitely pay you a visit when things get 'back to normal'.

We have done quite a bit of music now at the lion and it is still very hit and miss in terms of success. Often we have to go quite late to make it work.

I am sure we will do a few more events when restrictions are eased

cheers

[RickWhiteHorse]

16 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

How about 3 different portion sizes for the same meals, Ladies, Gentlemen and Gutsies.

Haha, would certainly work I can imagine. We would have to name it slightly more PC however otherwise we would end up like piers Morgan 

[Smoggy]

9 minutes ago, RickWhiteHorse said:

We have added a bottled/can beer fridge into the lion also for reopening to expand the range a bit further.

My local has "the fridge of doom" and it is very popular (and good for expiry dates), basically the rear corridor of the pub is 3 double door glass fronted fridges packed full of all sorts of weird and wonderful options.

May see you this year but the thought of all the staycationers is putting me off turning left at yarmouth this year more than ever, not sure I'm even looking forward to the southern broads.

[RickWhiteHorse]

7 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

My local has "the fridge of doom" and it is very popular (and good for expiry dates), basically the rear corridor of the pub is 3 double door glass fronted fridges packed full of all sorts of weird and wonderful options.

May see you this year but the thought of all the staycationers is putting me off turning left at yarmouth this year more than ever, not sure I'm even looking forward to the southern broads.

Thing of beauty that is (apart from the electric bill)

[Smoggy]

1 minute ago, RickWhiteHorse said:

Thing of beauty that is (apart from the electric bill)

Nah! Thing of wobbliness....

Link for anyone visiting st.neots, sorry it's a face ache page.

https://www.facebook.com/thealetasterstneots/

[NorfolkNog]

I've had a pizza in the Lion several times and it certainly hits the spot (I do have a good appetite) but they do/did offer a half pizza option which is a good idea. They do take away too although it's always better in the pub   (the ambiance, not the pizza)

[NeilB]

There's a Polish restaurant I've been to in Gothenburg a couple of times that has the perfect solution to the dilemma  of not being able to decide what to order from the menu.  They offer 1/2 plates so you can have both !!

Not seen this in the UK so could be something different.

[Chelsea14Ian]

I am certainly looking  forward to a pint in a pub.Not sure when and where that will be.

[MauriceMynah]

We'll drink again, don't know where, don't know when,   ...

Rick, What plans do you have for your pubs come April 12th? I'm hoping to get New Nyx out and about then. (She will still be displaying "Corsica 2" as her name for a while!)

Here's hoping you (and the other pubs) can capitalise on a bumper season. I am hoping to do my best to compensate you all for last year!

[Chelsea14Ian]

Thats alot of beer

[RickWhiteHorse]

6 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

We'll drink again, don't know where, don't know when,   ...

Rick, What plans do you have for your pubs come April 12th? I'm hoping to get New Nyx out and about then. (She will still be displaying "Corsica 2" as her name for a while!)

Here's hoping you (and the other pubs) can capitalise on a bumper season. I am hoping to do my best to compensate you all for last year!

Hard to say at the mo. I keep changing my mind. Lion I think we will open from the thurs 16th and do thurs-sun. Horse is a bit trickier as we only really have the courtyard area so mainly suitable for drinkers. If we open the new beer garden it is situated past the car park so staff costs go through the roof to open it so maybe just sat and Sunday day for that. 
It is all so weather dependant really. 

[RickWhiteHorse]

34 minutes ago, NeilB said:

There's a Polish restaurant I've been to in Gothenburg a couple of times that has the perfect solution to the dilemma  of not being able to decide what to order from the menu.  They offer 1/2 plates so you can have both !!

Not seen this in the UK so could be something different.

Would work well I think although I am sure kitchen would hate it.

a lot of our dishes are tough to half up as such. We did something similar last year as a trial by making a smaller plate version of most specials to aim at our older crowd that worked well

[Smoggy]

When we were dogless for a while I did go for "kids size" option in the ferryhouse a few times as I do hate seeing heaps of food go to waste, I've never really been a big eater.

[Chelsea14Ian]

Rick you could  try a tasting menu,with a option of number of dishes or something  like tapas.

[PaulN]

Looking forward to getting back to both Pubs, what a fantastic change when you took over the Lion. My wife loves trying your different Gin's. 

[NorfolkNog]

13 minutes ago, PaulN said:

My wife loves trying your different Gin's. 

Snap!!!