Broadshaven

[Soundings]

I still believe the BH could be given a new lease of life with some adventurous thinking. Sitting there is the gardens is ideal so all we need is some ideas for the inside - a way to get away from that cavernous shed look.

[BroadScot]

17 minutes ago, Soundings said:

I still believe the BH could be given a new lease of life with some adventurous thinking. Sitting there is the gardens is ideal so all we need is some ideas for the inside - a way to get away from that cavernous shed look.

Level off the roof and put a viewing balcony with a bar on top?

[NorfolkNog]

It's not made clear in the Fleurets advert but I suspect it's the lease which is up for grabs rather than the freehold, which would limit the possibilities somewhat

 

[Soundings]

I agree NN, it is the short sightedness of the owners that is the problem. They just want income to be maintained at an unrealistic level I suspect and without being prepared to invest in the fabric. Just look at the last attempt to make it work. It was hardly a significant refurb, it more like a tenant coming and throwing a few cans of white paint about. It was still a cavernous unwelcoming shed and I reckon the business would have died irrespective of the personal issues that ensued.

[RickWhiteHorse]

It's up on leasehold but it is available freehold for the right price. I never understand why anyone would take a place on with a lease and spend loads of money on it, seems mad

[NorfolkNog]

Yep, you are both spot on the nail there. 

[JennyMorgan]

The 'Shaven Broad' always reminds me of a 1960's works canteen and I reckon the only way to cure that is to knock it down and start again. BH is classic 1970s/80s Broads and well past its sell by date. Personally I thinks that Potter has set out its stall with the chippy & Latham's/Q.D and that Horning or Wroxham it ain't! My wife & I used to regularly visit & enjoy Potter, when Lathams really was Lathams, just as was the one time excellent fishing tackle department. Potter Heigham RIP? 

[Soundings]

JM that is bx an you know it. Stay in Suffolk - Oulton Broad is not what it was either and certainly we would rather the likes of you stay away. One thing for sure I would rather stay here than be in Wroxham, which is now (or soon to be) part of Norwich! But then perhaps you mean Hoveton.

In any event, boats and holidays are not everything and to be perfectly honest nor are pubs.

 

[Soundings]

JM, now I have calmed down a little could you please explain how "Potter" - and please define the entity - can be responsible for Latham's having sold out to QD or the quality of the chippy - incidentally a holiday chappie in the Falgate today told me he had just had excellent food from that establishment.

Mind you I am pleased the fishing tackle has deteriorated. I am of the view that all such outlets should be shut and fishing viewed in the same light as fox hunting. I do not begrudge those who partake of the "sport" but I certainly do not agree with it ...each to his own. It is a legal pastime that many enjoy and I accept that.

[JennyMorgan]

Oulton Broad certainly isn't what it was, agreed. However the surrounding area has a lot to offer the visitor and we do have some good boozers & restaurants, not that that matters. As for my comment being bx as you so quaintly put it, well, do you really think Potter is as attractive as it was? Many of the riverside bungalows certainly are, but facilities for the visitor, well, clearly we clearly have a difference of opinion. Afraid I shall be in Potter during the summer . . . . . . . . . hopefully the burger van is still as good as it always has been! 

[JennyMorgan]

Soundings, it is not the fault of 'Potter' that Lathams was sold, nor that the chippy has in the past received poor reviews. However it is a fact that the facilities that are on offer are how visitors judge the village, that is quite simply inevitable, same at Oulton Broad I suspect. 

[Soundings]

I never thought Potter's water front was attractive. Lathams and HW have seen to that - and Lathams always was full of rubbish in my view. The other side of the village is different again, with some wonderful walks over the Hickling Reserve and the Potter Marshes. You see, JM, we do not all believe the Broads are just for those on boats. There are also some decent eateries around Potter area, but not waterside. 

The burger van is always good but hardly attractive. The tea room/bar in HW was also very good but that went under what I am told were not nice circumstances. It was nice to sit on that balcony and look over the surrounding area

[Warp]

I think PH lost it's focal point and postcard looks in the bridge hotel fire 26 years ago. It needs a new focal point near the bridge. 

[JennyMorgan]

Soundings, I am not just a boater and angler, I too enjoy walking the marshes. The riverside walk from Oulton Broad to Beccles, for example, is well worth the effort. I have recently discussed with Dr Packman at the Broads Authority the potential of promoting rambling and backpacking around the Broads. 

[Gracie]

I'm sorry, everyone is entitled to their opinion but in my view you cannot put fox hunting and fishing in the same bracket, the fish we catch are treated with the utmost respect and care by true fisherman or women, put gently back into the water and most definitely not torn to pieces.

I and my family love Potter as much as anywhere else on the Broads and have great pleasure in a good look around Lathams or QD or whatever it's called now, rubbish or not, whatever your point of view.

In our experience, when we've come into moor opposite Herbert Woods mid August you will be lucky to get a mooring, which just goes to show there must be something said for the place and we are not the only one's that think so

Grace

[ChrisB]

With respect Grace I think getting a mooring mid August is a problem over the whole of the Northern rivers. If you have to visit during the school holiday period you must be prepared to start looking just after lunch if you are to secure a place on a free 24 hour mooring. Not really gauge of attractiveness. ( Malthouse accepted)

[BroadScot]

Awe come on folks, everyone want to stop at Potter H to empty their boat waste in that ONE bin they have there. Why do I say that? Just think back to the number of pics that have been taken of it! 

Lets not knock anywhere on the Broads, after all we have new boaters reading our Forum 24/7 they will be wondering OMG, is this place really worth going to see! Of course it is....warts and awe! Rant over!

Iain

[Viking23]

BroadScot, I was thinking exactly that... a well placed skip would not look out of place on the Potter Heigham water front.

Luckily we can get through the bridge to moor, good job as in the summer we can't moor up to allow us to take our screen down, so we have to "heave too" as it were, in the channel to do it.

I guess it wouldn't be unreasonable to moor at the yacht demasting moorings, to safely remove the screen, it only takes a minute.... By the time someone sees us, we are up and away and through the bridge lol...

I think I will email BA on that one.

[Timbo]

Potter certainly has changed over the years but it still holds a special place in my heart. As a kid Lathem's tackle shop was the 'must go to' place. For some reason two weeks prior to going on holiday my Premium Bonds would 'come up' and of course Lathems were the final recipient of my winnings.

I have strong memories as a small child of sitting with my family at the Bridge Hotel in the summer sunshine cheering a hapless boater who hit the bridge depositing his bikini clad wife into the water.

Stronger memories of Uncle Albert falling in opposite the Hotel to loud  from the customers.

Memories of selling a huge live eel Uncle Albert had caught to the fish vender.

Memories of spending one summer in my early teens staying with Ted Ellis at his home for a few days before hiking around Broadland...spending a night 'roughing it' under the new road bridge at Potter.

Of course following a robbery at the hotel where our wedding reception was being held in Hull and the subsequent theft of our luggage, plane tickets, passports and holiday money...we had an improvised honeymoon at Potter Heigham camping in a borrowed tent financed by a few quid my Mum scraped together.

Far from being an eyesore Herbert Woods yard is a piece of living history. It screams of holidays from the last century (feeling old?) and is as integral to the landscape as the old bridge.

Modern memories include taking my future father in law (an aficionado of pound shops around the world) to visit 'Coo Dee' where he spent several hours in his own personal heaven. Taking my daughter onboard Royal Tudor to meet her former school friend, now a fashion model, who was on a 'modelling assignment on a luxury yacht' which turned out to be a day hire boat from Potter. Perfecting the maneuver with Royal Tudor in front of the old bridge of depositing and picking up Uncle Albert and his wheel chair.

Of the Broadshaven itself I have just one memory...sitting in a hanger only slightly larger than the Cardington Airship Hangers with my better half, Uncle Albert and two of the kids, eating a frozen ready meal, still frozen in the middle, spitting out what I thought was beer but could have been river water and paying just shy of £60 for the privilege.

 

 

[Soundings]

31 minutes ago, Timbo said:

Of the Broadshaven itself I have just one memory...sitting in a hanger only slightly larger than the Cardington Airship Hangers with my better half,

 

Exactly. It has always been so but I submit it does not have to be that way. Get some decent design consultants on the job and I bet some interesting and workable ideas will surface. I doubt that exercise has ever taken place though and is unlikely now that it is owned by an  "I just want an exorbitant rent" type pubco. The exterior is a shed, I agree, but it is also of a time and that could be made to work - if people think HW is living history then there must be room for the BH. And then of course Lathams is a horrible building.

Gracie says " I'm sorry, everyone is entitled to their opinion but in my view you cannot put fox hunting and fishing in the same bracket, the fish we catch are treated with the utmost respect and care by true fisherman or women, put gently back into the water and most definitely not torn to pieces".  I am sure you do Gracie but there are also those who do not. You are perfectly entitled to fish away - I just do not see it as a sport: what does the fish have to do to win this game? They are my views and of course everybody has an entitlement to views.

[Gracie]

I also have so many fond memories of Potter, too many to write about on here, I may think that some of the places on the Broads could do with a facelift or some such but anyone reading this, don't ever be put off by some of our rantings, it really is one of the best places on the planet to have a holiday, in my humble opinion

Yes, I have in the main had to hire boats during school holidays, where as we all know most of the popular moorings re pubs are full but before being married we hired out of season, mainly late October/November and from memory have found Potter to be busy, may be not as in August but busy just the same

I love Herbert Woods, the burger bar, the bridge, the fish and chips are not much to write home about but just stand on that lovely old bridge and take in the scenery, absolutely beautiful, if I'm not careful I could well be done for loitering the amount of time I have spent watching the activity on the river from there.

Back on topic, the Broadshaven has never been the most attractive of buildings, I agree, if someone came along with pots of money could pretty it up, turn it into a good family pub where boaters from all over want to visit in season and do quiz nights etc to pull in the locals and keep it busy out of season, it may be a little gold mine. I think it was Iain that mentioned (maybe tongue in cheek) about having a roof terrace, as a visitor I can't think of anything nicer than sitting on a roof terrace, overlooking the river, a nice meal and a glass of wine in hand just watching people messing about in boats. I don't know the first thing about running pubs, only that I like to frequent them whilst on holiday and my thoughts on the place a tad romantic but just my very humble opinion all the same

Soundings, I have seen appalling behaviour from some people when handling fish but most that I have met over the years take great care, love and respect the fish they handle, I have been and would be at the head of the queue to have a good old go at anyone causing distress or harm to fish and report them accordingly

Grace

[Soundings]

Potter as a village had many pubs once: The Railway Tavern, Falgate, Broadshaven, Bridge Inn and the club on Station Road (cannot remember the name). All but the Falgate have gone and that was close. We are hoping the Falgate will make it and certainly efforts are being made in that direction but I can never see it being hugely profitable. Potter, like many villages on the Broads, seems to be in a post pub drinking age. It is strange though, for when I go down to my mates village in Somerset the pubs are busy 52 weeks of the year. Why do you think that is?

[Warp]

6 minutes ago, Soundings said:

Potter as a village had many pubs once: The Railway Tavern, Falgate, Broadshaven, Bridge Inn and the club on Station Road (cannot remember the name). All but the Falgate have gone and that was close. We are hoping the Falgate will make it and certainly efforts are being made in that direction but I can never see it being hugely profitable. Potter, like many villages on the Broads, seems to be in a post pub drinking age. It is strange though, for when I go down to my mates village in Somerset the pubs are busy 52 weeks of the year. Why do you think that is?

Somerset still stuck in their old ways? You should see what comes over em when they catch the scent of hay. Ooh marster. I say it's all them apples. 

[JennyMorgan]

Oulton Broad is no longer the seasonal holiday resort that it was, it has to move on in order to survive. However the small, community shops have gone, no fault of the holiday trade, the local community has moved away, off to the retail parks and their free car parking. Nevertheless Oulton Broad now has more good to excellent eateries and pubs than it ever had, both residents and holiday makers are well catered for. Oulton Broad has a huge catchment area right on its doorstep. Beccles has gone the same way although its catchment area is more widely spaced.  Potter, on the other hand, is perhaps further out on a limb and its catchment area is perhaps rather more sparse. Lathams has lost its unique identity, numerous are the Pound Shops, Q.D's and Roys across Norfolk & Suffolk so why would the locals go to Potter? At one time the china and housewares departments were a godsend to the local holiday home & B&B industry, not now. Oulton Broad and Beccles, for example, have their winter trade, don't think that Potter does.  Potter has long been the iconic Broads village, it was well worth visiting, winter or summer, perhaps not now. For years it was the Thurne hub but unfortunately peoples' expectations have changed, boats have grown and the Bridge has not.  

[Timbo]

37 minutes ago, Soundings said:

Potter as a village had many pubs once: The Railway Tavern, Falgate, Broadshaven, Bridge Inn and the club on Station Road (cannot remember the name). All but the Falgate have gone and that was close. We are hoping the Falgate will make it and certainly efforts are being made in that direction but I can never see it being hugely profitable. Potter, like many villages on the Broads, seems to be in a post pub drinking age. It is strange though, for when I go down to my mates village in Somerset the pubs are busy 52 weeks of the year. Why do you think that is?

I'm a village lad myself and I have pondered the question of why the village pubs stay in business often without the aid of a restaurant. The conclusion I came to was that they were the center of the community. Village life happened in the pub. Doctor, vicar, local butcher, shopkeeper, baker and the hippy couple that made candles...all met for a pint in the local pub where the ins and outs of village life were discussed.

As the villages grew in my area and 'incomers' as we called them started to arrive in the villages there seemed to be a clear divide between those that threw themselves into village life...and joined the locals in the pub...and became locals themselves and those that sealed themselves in their Barret cul de sacs refusing to use local services.

If I visit a pub in the town where I have lived for the last ten years I may know a few people in the town...hardly anyone in the pub. If I visit my village I won't know anyone in the village...but walk into the local pub and generations of locals will know me and my family.

Another factor is distance and the drink driving laws. My village is too far away from the metropolis. If you want to drink in a pub elsewhere you have to drive as there is no public transport. My village landlords attitude to the smoking ban was excellent as far as I was concerned. He effectively turned the pub inside out with comfortable seating outside, plenty of ashtrays, sheltered from the wind and heated with easy access to the bar. I can sit and have a smoke and a beer and a chinwag in comfort...without having to mooch in and out of the empty pub, barring a couple of non smokers, to get a beer.