good news for potter heigham

[SweetKingfisher1]

I love the wild and wooly look, but during that two weeks I feel half way though the hols I need to look almost normal (if only for a day or so ). Potter needs more life there. Its a great place, but all you really have is Lathams. Regards Marina ️

[GeoffandWendy]

Aren't  there any Costa Coffee cafe's in any of the Broads towns (excluding Norwich) ? They seem to be everywhere else. We have four of them scattered around Tamworth, one in the town centre, two more on Ventura retail park and one inside the Odeon cinema complex.

[Viking23]

...

As much as I enjoy confusticating the bobble hatted binocular wielding hedge tremblers I don't think I have the piloting skills or the nerve to attempt the same trick.

The point is, the pilot has probably taken three or four smaller boats through in the previous hour. He would know the effect of tide wind and current, so in effect he would have had three or four trial runs prior to this. So we shouldn't underestimate our own ability. If you knew how the flow was running, then you would adjust your approach accordingly.

When we approach the bridge, we assess the clearance from what we see, and often I will obseve other boats going through, to help me decide.

The worst approach we had, was we were coming down from Martham, last summer, with a strong wind and tide behind us, high water, no other boats coming through, and there were 10" high waves (peak to trough) too. That was tight.

The problem with taking your own boat through, is having to live with any scratches or damage, but if the pilot takes it through... they are insured....

The pilots do a very good job, but in the end, it is their decision as to when or if the boat can go through... After all, they pay the insurance premium.

I love Potter Heigham bridge, I love the peace and quiet on the other side.

It should stay.

Maybe consider opening up more of the other broads, to boat traffic.

[LondonRascal]

I’ve been thinking what IS Potter Heigham – if you’ve never been to the Norfolk Broads you will see it mentioned countless times in guides or feature in a map, your no doubt  be aware there is a very old very low bridge and the fact there is a shop - a kind of ‘beacon of the Broads’ that one simply must visit called Lathams.

 

It may be the case for some the hype is now greater than the reality – for when one approaches this quirky place by river up the Thurne it is not long that the wide open marsh land changes quickly to resemble a ‘watery village street’ lined as it is with the many chalet homes you are seduced into thinking that there is something rather enchanting awaiting your eventual arrival at Potter Heigham. 

 

Alas in the main all you find is the large boatyard of Herbert Woods on your left and a row of moorings on the right – the low medieval bridge ahead of you. Having moored up and taking a stroll to the area around the bridge you find a catering van, a pub and a fish and chip shop – oh and of course Lathams which you discover stocks many items you’ve seen elsewhere in QD Stores and you wonder why there was all the fuss.

 

Of course just as with Yarmouth and Marina Keys, it all comes down to money spent verses return on that investment.  It is so much larger than just a single establishment but it needs a wider scheme to make business attracted to invest – if they bring the money to develop the local council and Broad Authority I say need to be more sympathetic in planning permissions and in offering incentives or grants to businesses to help things along.

 

I know I won’t find many supporters amongst this communities readership, but I don’t think we need more pubs on the Broads – across the country they are failing and yes many because of the pub companies policies but also because I think slowly but steadily we (as a country) are giving up on the ‘pub culture’. 

 

Of course it would be nice to see Potter Heigham rejuvenated with local people building up businesses themselves – I am not sure how sustainable that is in the long run because is any one individual going to have the capital to invest in a project?

 

I had a little look on the Land Registry and found some astonishing things – such as the land at the rear of the Broads Haven Pub has many individually owned parking spaces – despite on Google Earth it appearing to be just grassland.  Along the side are more parking spaces and garages, again individually owned.  It is as if at some point people were carving up and buying every little bit of land.  I also found Potter Heigham Bridge is owned by Her Majesty and attach a copy of the Deeds, whilst they refer to the foreshore and river bed the title plan clear outlines the bridge itself.

 

Anyway I digress – I just wonder if for example the Broads Haaven was demolished and in its place a more ‘multi purpose’ development was built - perhaps some apartments above smaller retail units below just to break up having such a large singular building to fill.

 

While many would be happy if a local opened a nice quality tea shop with fine produce, good coffee and teas one could enjoy on a nice day by the river – I wonder if a Costa Coffee opened would it attract more actual custom being a ‘known brand’?  Would a restaurant that was owned and run by a local person service produce from Norfolk at reasonable prices do as well as if Zizzi arrived?

 

In my opinion I think the area is actually indeed of some ‘branded investment’ not just at the like of Potter Heigham where you could moor your boat in Herbert Woods or along the bank and then take the family out for a pretty good Pizza in a chain where you could take your ‘30% of main courses’ voucher you downloaded from Voucher Codes or perhaps moor in Wroxham and go for a quarter chicken with piri piri fries from Nando’s – locals would be aghast at such franchises arriving but many a visitor would find comfort knowing the names, knowing the food and being able to have a meal without it needing to be ‘another pub’.

 

* I wrote this before seeing Geoff & Wendy's reference to Costa - maybe there is a need for these guys more than I thought.

Official Copy (Register) - NK405164.pdf

Official Copy (Title Plan) - NK405164.pdf

[bigbream]

Speaking of parking spaces Robin I would like to know where people will park to use the new tea room and other shops as I think the broadshaven or lathems will not be letting them to use theirs

[JawsOrca]

Geez I don't shave when I'm on the boat let alone worry about my hair! There must be a local need for a hairdressers as I doubt there will be much need for one as discussed!

 

Whilst I do agree Potter is a bit barren when you think about it and it could do with a few more attractions.. I love the idea of a wroxham barns type thing! I think the whole joy of the broads is that it feels a bit rural and along way from the normal high streets.  

 

Lathams when it wasn't QD stores was a bit better and there was some good bits stocked, even crafty bits. Personally I hate seeing the Tesco in Stalham and Beccles and I dont think these should be in these market towns  (I've never been into the stalham one.. I admit I've been into the beccles ones a couple of times but usually when everything else is shut).  I think it would seriously put me off the place if some well known brands started popping up in potter. Norwich, Yarmouth (even Wroxham) I don't mind but not potter.. I seriously hope we don't see these places if they do then they better sort that bridge out so I can drive past!

 

[BroadScot]

 

 

I seriously hope we don't see these places if they do then they better sort that bridge out so I can drive past!

Attach torpedo tubes to Orca, Alan. Job done!

 

 

Iain.

[BuffaloBill]

To answer Bigbream's question, you can park in Lathams

carpark for 3hrs for free. Any more than that and you will

have to get a ticket from the onsite machine.

3hrs is enough for us 

[BroadScot]

To answer Bigbream's question, you can park in Lathams

carpark for 3hrs for free. Any more than that and you will

have to get a ticket from the onsite machine.

3hrs is enough for us 

One hour shopping.....TWO hours to get through the checkout!

 

 

Iain.

[Gracie]

I so agree with everything Jaws said above, the Broads are unique and I for one would like to see it stay that way. Where we live we are ten minutes away from shopping centres, KFC's, Mcdonalds etc, we come to the Broads to get away from all that. Like I said before we love Potter, cruising past the little Bungalows, mooring opposite Woods and going for a walk is so enjoyable I would hate to see bloomin great bildings with shops and take aways as you come into moor.

 

I am going to start a campaign to leave Potter alone, maybe even get some T shirts printed Lol

 

Grace

[BroadScot]

 

I am going to start a campaign to leave Potter alone, maybe even get some T shirts printed Lol

 

Gawnyersel Grace!    

 

 

Iain.

[GeoffandWendy]

 

Of course it would be nice to see Potter Heigham rejuvenated with local people building up businesses themselves – I am not sure how sustainable that is in the long run because is any one individual going to have the capital to invest in a project?

 

While many would be happy if a local opened a nice quality tea shop with fine produce, good coffee and teas one could enjoy on a nice day by the river – I wonder if a Costa Coffee opened would it attract more actual custom being a ‘known brand’?  

 

* I wrote this before seeing Geoff & Wendy's reference to Costa - maybe there is a need for these guys more than I thought.

 

I think a Costa Coffee, would attract more people, they are one of the largest Coffee chains in the UK and not all of them are run by Costa themselves. Two of them in our town are actually franchises, run under the Costa banner. I am sure that if Costa could secure a riverside plot near the bridge in Potter, it would attract visiting boaters, to spend some time there, as well as benefiting the locals, for somewhere to meet for a coffee.

Coffee shops are very much used these days, a bit like the Milk Bars, where during the sixties. When out shopping in town, we always call for a Costa Coffee and maybe a cake. My Costa Coffee points card has presently got £83 on it, which we use when on holidays. So you can tell how much we have spent on coffee over the last twelve months.   

 

Sorry Grace, but I don't think a Costa would spoil Potter, as long as other outlets are kept out.  

[Gracie]

Ok, I am probably going to regret this post but can someone please explain what Iain just said, I've given him a like but I haven't a clue why Lol

 

Grace

[JawsOrca]

I think he agrees and means to say "go on"...

 

Iain.. Please can you remember that this forum represents the Norfolk broads which is in England ( ) and not Scotland.. Please can you talky the english when using this forum.   (Do you think that will help Grace?).

[Gracie]

Thanks for that Alan, you are sooo gonna get your wrists slapped for that Lol

 

Grace

[ranworthbreeze]

I thought the Bridge Stores was ideal as it was, somewhere where you could buy milk, bread and the odd tatty gift for someone at home. They had beer & wine and just a small walk from the moorings, other than Lathams there is not a lot of other shops to get anything you need. Another cafe or hairdessers is not going to cut it

 

Regarding Costa Coffee I despair when I have ever gone in these places having to queue watching the staff prat about to try and keep up with customers waiting to get their drinks and more importantly seated.

 

Regards

Alan

[JennyMorgan]

An independent coffee shop with cream teas would be good! Personally I agree, a Costalot or Five Bucks coffee shop, naa, let Potter keep its individuality. Bad enough Lathams becoming a QD! 

[ExMemberBobdog]

Regarding Potter bridge ... wasn't the water low today, reading 8'2" on the gauge board this afternoon?

[Swift]

London Rascal's reference to the car parking spaces behind the Brosdshaven needs a little explanation perhaps. No-one is carving up the land at Potter Five years ago I formed a private company limited by shares called Bridge Car Park Company Ltd. The Company bought the land and the garages from Bridge Stores with cash raised from the Company's sixty-four shareholders, each of whom now owns leasehold a car parking space or one of sixteen garages for a peppercorn rent. To qualify as a shareholder you had to own a Thurne riverside property. You must realize that, before this facility was offered, riverbank bungalow owners were at the mercy of private landowners for car parking space. Now, sixty-four of them have car parking security guaranteed until 2085.

[Guest]

I’ve been thinking what IS Potter Heigham – if you’ve never been to the Norfolk Broads you will see it mentioned countless times in guides or feature in a map, your no doubt  be aware there is a very old very low bridge and the fact there is a shop - a kind of ‘beacon of the Broads’ that one simply must visit called Lathams.

 

It may be the case for some the hype is now greater than the reality – for when one approaches this quirky place by river up the Thurne it is not long that the wide open marsh land changes quickly to resemble a ‘watery village street’ lined as it is with the many chalet homes you are seduced into thinking that there is something rather enchanting awaiting your eventual arrival at Potter Heigham. 

 

Alas in the main all you find is the large boatyard of Herbert Woods on your left and a row of moorings on the right – the low medieval bridge ahead of you. Having moored up and taking a stroll to the area around the bridge you find a catering van, a pub and a fish and chip shop – oh and of course Lathams which you discover stocks many items you’ve seen elsewhere in QD Stores and you wonder why there was all the fuss.

 

Of course just as with Yarmouth and Marina Keys, it all comes down to money spent verses return on that investment.  It is so much larger than just a single establishment but it needs a wider scheme to make business attracted to invest – if they bring the money to develop the local council and Broad Authority I say need to be more sympathetic in planning permissions and in offering incentives or grants to businesses to help things along.

 

I know I won’t find many supporters amongst this communities readership, but I don’t think we need more pubs on the Broads – across the country they are failing and yes many because of the pub companies policies but also because I think slowly but steadily we (as a country) are giving up on the ‘pub culture’. 

 

Of course it would be nice to see Potter Heigham rejuvenated with local people building up businesses themselves – I am not sure how sustainable that is in the long run because is any one individual going to have the capital to invest in a project?

 

I had a little look on the Land Registry and found some astonishing things – such as the land at the rear of the Broads Haven Pub has many individually owned parking spaces – despite on Google Earth it appearing to be just grassland.  Along the side are more parking spaces and garages, again individually owned.  It is as if at some point people were carving up and buying every little bit of land.  I also found Potter Heigham Bridge is owned by Her Majesty and attach a copy of the Deeds, whilst they refer to the foreshore and river bed the title plan clear outlines the bridge itself.

 

Anyway I digress – I just wonder if for example the Broads Haaven was demolished and in its place a more ‘multi purpose’ development was built - perhaps some apartments above smaller retail units below just to break up having such a large singular building to fill.

 

While many would be happy if a local opened a nice quality tea shop with fine produce, good coffee and teas one could enjoy on a nice day by the river – I wonder if a Costa Coffee opened would it attract more actual custom being a ‘known brand’?  Would a restaurant that was owned and run by a local person service produce from Norfolk at reasonable prices do as well as if Zizzi arrived?

 

In my opinion I think the area is actually indeed of some ‘branded investment’ not just at the like of Potter Heigham where you could moor your boat in Herbert Woods or along the bank and then take the family out for a pretty good Pizza in a chain where you could take your ‘30% of main courses’ voucher you downloaded from Voucher Codes or perhaps moor in Wroxham and go for a quarter chicken with piri piri fries from Nando’s – locals would be aghast at such franchises arriving but many a visitor would find comfort knowing the names, knowing the food and being able to have a meal without it needing to be ‘another pub’.

 

* I wrote this before seeing Geoff & Wendy's reference to Costa - maybe there is a need for these guys more than I thought.

In the 1950s -1960s Potter was the Broads, a vibrant little village with lots going on, A perfect riverside Pub, sadly no longer there, now turned into a mini waste disposal site. Potter was very busy then with riverside table and chairs at a premium these days not so. a shadow of its former self as is Lathams unless you like the pound shop culture without pound shop prices. For the fisherman Lathams Tackle was a must, top brand tackle at good discount prices, sadly no more.

[JennyMorgan]

Bad move farming the fishing tackle out to another company, especially one that is not in the same league as the old Lathams. My wife & I used to look forward to a drive out to Potter. A tackle shop for me that wasn't just another shop, one that did know the meaning of discount and my wife reckoned the same could be said of the main shop, especially when it had its 'seconds' china department. Now we have top dollar tackle and the same old tat that we can get from our high street. We love the river but the village centre, apart from the hot dog stall, is just a grubby, tacky place to miss, in my honest opinion. Potter has lost its soul.

[GeoffandWendy]

Ok, I am probably going to regret this post but can someone please explain what Iain just said, I've given him a like but I haven't a clue why Lol

 

Grace

 

It's his accent Grace, they don't speak English properly in Scotland, you have to agree what Iain has said and hope that you have fully understood it, or ignore it! 

[BroadScot]

Gawnyersel Grace!    

 

 

Iain.

Meaning...Have a go yourself Grace......Simples!

 

 

Iain

[BroadScot]

Regarding Potter bridge ... wasn't the water low today, reading 8'2" on the gauge board this afternoon?

I hope someone has taken a pic of that height gauge!! In all the years I have been there the best was I think 7ft2"

 

 

Iain.

[GeoffandWendy]

 

I am going to start a campaign to leave Potter alone, maybe even get some T shirts printed Lol

 

Grace

 

LEAVE POTTER ALONE  on the front, with VISIT COSTA  on the back.