Ship South Walsham

[marshman]

I knew this had been closed because of Covid, but I see its now up for sale /lease. Sad really as I always liked that pub - especially before it fell into the Colchester Group!

Cannot believe that there is not an opportunity here for someone to get it up and running again- I know its small but we have lost a lot of these niche places and even with the problems of Covid cannot believe it would not work.

[Chelsea14Ian]

A very  tricky  time for any one.You need deep pockets and or an invester.I am always  sorry when a pub,Restaurant or an Hotel goes out of business. 

[FairTmiddlin]

In the past there has always been a raft of couples, willing to invest there redundancy/ windfall money into pubs. These people who go in headlong to live a dream of "Running a Pub". The people who never do their homework. never talk to a landlord about what their day entails.

But it seems that these people or the redundancy money is now not there or ringfenced for something else. Or could it be that these people are finally seeing what a pub takes to run, for sometimes, a pittance left after the bills have been paid.

[CambridgeCabby]

If I worked out mine and Kates hourly rate when we were in the business then we would have never have considered it.

Running a pub is a lifestyle , bl**dy hard work and often a thankless task.

That said , we loved the life and our growing family was the catalyst that caused us to retire from it, with many many fond memories.

[FairTmiddlin]

5 hours ago, CambridgeCabby said:

If I worked out mine and Kates hourly rate when we were in the business then we would have never have considered it.

Running a pub is a lifestyle , bl**dy hard work and often a thankless task.

That said , we loved the life and our growing family was the catalyst that caused us to retire from it, with many many fond memories.

Simon and Kate I would like to reiterate everything in that.

I was one of the lucky ones I got to do it. But get paid a salary by Whitbread as a manager.

Problem is people do not see you in the cellar, at 6am on a cold and frosty December morning unloading and stacking a whole dray full of beer bottled everything and bottles of gas for Christmas .  And those 22's are heavy when dropped from 7 feet up onto a cushion.

Yes I did say 6am twice a week we had a dray at that time. Often after getting to bed at 2am after throwing everyone out and locking up, setting the alarms, doing the tills, entering all that onto the computer. All that before you could even relax and have a cuppa before crashing into your pit before lightly snoozing in anticipation of the burglar alarm going off. dropping off into a deep sleep at 07:20, 10 minutes before the alarm wakes you once again to start another 16 hour day.

Did I enjoy it? Long days but usually endless laughter with the regulars. Once a week I got an afternoon off to play golf. My only other than pub work, exercise and my dose of vitamin D. And dream of dreams Monday night out to another pub with the quiz team.

 Would I choose to do it again? Not for my own business, but to manage a pub, yes I would take that time again.                 As Simon says I too loved the life.

[Buttle]

I think there are still plenty of people who could stand those sort of hours, but when they see their earnings disappear in increasingly higher rents from the greedy pubcos, that's what deters them.

[CambridgeCabby]

If I were younger then I would seriously consider buying another pub , but freehold, we actually considered it a couple of years ago as my youngest son was at a crossroads in his employment and couldn’t decide what he wanted to do .

I offered to buy another pub and run it along side him with the intention of stepping down in a few years allowing him to take the helm .

We looked at a few Broadland Inns and even enquired if they would sell the freehold of The Maltsters when it was shut down for a while , sadly they wouldn’t.

There is still a reasonable living to be made from running a pub , even a tied/leased one , but more fail than succeed 

[BroadAmbition]

My MrsG has worked in a few pubs in a previous life.  It certainly put us off ever considering the idea.  We learnt that working / living in a Pub is mostly a 24/7 existence, you never leave the job behind any day of the week.

Having said that they were some very happy times and memories. Her first one was 10 Main Street here in Auckley (Now a housing estate) a country club - proper busy and challenging but enjoyable all the same

Next was The Three Horse Shoes in a neighbouring village - Branton, great fun.  Then the Blue Bell at Blaxton - A bit quiet. Next was in Gibraltar - London Bar - a failing pub, too quiet and a dodgy walk home at nights.  The best one by far, real busy, really popular with military personal and civilians alike was 'Ye Olde Rock' again in Gibraltar, so many happy memories of that place, sadly it closed down years ago now

Griff

[Cheesey69]

To be honest, and I am willing to stand corrected, me and my circle of friends just don’t visit pubs purely for drinks. 
Food? Yes. 
But even then maybe three times a year. 
Far more fun to drink onboard and much more handy to eat onboard to. 
Especially when you can’t guarantee a mooring or have to conform to timetable to get there.  

[CambridgeCabby]

The days of a wet led country pub are long gone , I love to visit a pub which is serving food , but I do not enjoy visiting a restaurant that also sells beer which is what most of the hostelries have become .

Those that do have the balance right seen to thrive 

[SteveO]

I think people's expectations regarding work have moved on. In the 1960's, my dad was a newsagent. Up at 5am to collect the papers from our WH Smiths depot, then sorting them out for the various paper rounds. Shop open from 5.30 to catch customers going to work on the early shift at the spinning mills that were a feature of our area. He stayed open all day until 8 or 9 pm and opened on Sunday mornings too. We lived over the shop and people would knock on the door even when we were closed because they had run out of cigarettes. Not sure many would want that kind of life nowadays. 

At least Dad was working for himself, not some grasping Pubco that jacks your rent up on the basis of a successful year and forces you to buy your overpriced and unprofitable beer. 

[marshman]

But in fact the Ship was not wet led.

Pre Colchester Group it was a superb but small restaurant where the chef changed the menu daily/weekly and I guess beer sales were minimal. Eventually however he then moved away to a larger establishment which is still very successful ,operating almost exclusively as a restaurant - with a couple of bar stools and they now have two similar operations , probably well known to local diners. Not cheap but who wants plastic menus - not me!!!!