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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2019 22:47:14 GMT
I noticed today that the Eagle (corner of Brewer St and Wheeler St) is "to let". Not sure exactly what this means - brewery/owner looking for new tenant, presumably?
Anyway, it made me wonder how viable this pub is. It looks like a bit of a dive - I've never been tempted to drink in there - and it's quite close to Union St and the Style and Winch and Rifleman. Or, if you want a decent local for that area, the Swan is only a couple of hundred metres away.
To survive as a pub these days, you've got to have something special (like the Rifleman), be in the town centre, be large and offer food, entertainment, etc, or be a really popular local. The Eagle isn't really any of these.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 1:11:56 GMT
Owned by Admiral Taverns. The lease was up a while back. I assumed they had someone as not listed on their website. Last time I went in looking for football it only had BT and not Sky. Not too bad a range of beers and a few people always in. Including two young ladies trying to get some chap very drunk as one of them had feelings for him. Doesn't look much, but I would drink there if it was my local.
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Post by porkystone on Jan 4, 2019 7:06:07 GMT
Owned by Admiral Taverns. The lease was up a while back. I assumed they had someone as not listed on their website. Last time I went in looking for football it only had BT and not Sky. Not too bad a range of beers and a few people always in. Including two young ladies trying to get some chap very drunk as one of them had feelings for him. Doesn't look much, but I would drink there if it was my local. Walk past it, and it makes a huge play of beers for £ 3 . Sure, just go 75 yards to the Spoons & save £ 1 a pint - makes no sense. Soon town centres will just be Spoons and wannabees like the Brenchley. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 8:31:47 GMT
Owned by Admiral Taverns. The lease was up a while back. I assumed they had someone as not listed on their website. Last time I went in looking for football it only had BT and not Sky. Not too bad a range of beers and a few people always in. Including two young ladies trying to get some chap very drunk as one of them had feelings for him. Doesn't look much, but I would drink there if it was my local. Walk past it, and it makes a huge play of beers for £ 3 . Sure, just go 75 yards to the Spoons & save £ 1 a pint - makes no sense. Soon town centres will just be Spoons and wannabees like the Brenchley. You really know how to cheer up a depressed man don't you ! |
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Post by porkystone on Jan 4, 2019 8:36:41 GMT
Walk past it, and it makes a huge play of beers for £ 3 . Sure, just go 75 yards to the Spoons & save £ 1 a pint - makes no sense. Soon town centres will just be Spoons and wannabees like the Brenchley. You really know how to cheer up a depressed man don't you ! Face reality my old cocker, either that or go on such a p**s up that you single handedly revive the fortunes of all struggling licensees in the town...... |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 9:07:45 GMT
JDL memory fails again - it's actually 'to let, not 'to rent'. And underneath it says "do you want to run this pub?"
I wonder what sort of response they've got? There was a time when that was a lot of people's dream - a favourite retirement job for ex-footballers, back in the day (can you imagine that now?). But I can't imagine too many people seriously considering it now.
I knew a couple, 25 years ago, when pubs were still doing OK, who took over a pub, and they lasted just a year before they gave up - and split up!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 10:21:21 GMT
Disagree with the Spoons comment. They do what they do and do it well. Not my favourite place, and the fact there are 30 odd drinking venues in town suggests others will also pay for something dififerent.
I suspect pubs have always had a high turnover and relied on other business. According to the book "A Chatham Scandal", many Medway pubs doubled up as brothels for sailors in Victorian times. I also once came across a link saying the then landlord of the Eagle was also a cooper; must look it up.
But yes, what marriage would survive working 12 hour days together for less than minimum wage?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 10:44:25 GMT
I noticed today that the Eagle (corner of Brewer St and Wheeler St) is "to let". Not sure exactly what this means - brewery/owner looking for new tenant, presumably? Anyway, it made me wonder how viable this pub is. It looks like a bit of a dive - I've never been tempted to drink in there - and it's quite close to Union St and the Style and Winch and Rifleman. Or, if you want a decent local for that area, the Swan is only a couple of hundred metres away. To survive as a pub these days, you've got to have something special (like the Rifleman), be in the town centre, be large and offer food, entertainment, etc, or be a really popular local. The Eagle isn't really any of these. Used to drink there in my youth. Was just up the road from my youth club and had a somewhat laissé faire attitude towards the legal drinking age. Opposite corner used to be the Ancient Druids. |
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Post by porkystone on Jan 4, 2019 11:09:20 GMT
Used to drink there in my youth. Was just up the road from my youth club and had a somewhat laissé faire attitude towards the legal drinking age. Opposite corner used to be the Ancient Druids. Ancient Druids now a curry house, which is good, but really fancies itself IMHO - uses their reception as a holding coral whilst plying punters with lager. What's that about ? |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 11:19:52 GMT
The Eagle is where I first met PBB in his dart playing days when he went under the name Beef. The pub was run by an eccentric Geordie name of Bill Wheeler who is the father of Jason Wheeler an ex stones player of some time ago.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 14:47:28 GMT
Used to drink there in my youth. Was just up the road from my youth club and had a somewhat laissé faire attitude towards the legal drinking age. Opposite corner used to be the Ancient Druids. Ancient Druids now a curry house, which is good, but really fancies itself IMHO - uses their reception as a holding coral whilst plying punters with lager. What's that about ? Standard in most of the curry places I've been in - along with those bowls of whatever they are, that everybody dips into whilst they're waiting (so you are eating stuff that dozens of other people have handled - many of them straight out of the pub, and, more to the point, the pub toilets...). Incidentally, when the Ancient Druids shut, the Druid's Arms (which was then called something else I can't remember) made a huge fuss about changing its name "back" to the Druid's Arms, claiming that they were now able to restore their original name. And yet the two pubs were called different names! |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2019 3:24:03 GMT
Bemoaning the loss of pubs is an exercise in futility.
It's like complaining about the change in fashion, tastes and demographics and modern consumer behaviour.
The world is changing and its better to adapt to it as it is.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2019 4:24:29 GMT
Ancient Druids now a curry house, which is good, but really fancies itself IMHO - uses their reception as a holding coral whilst plying punters with lager. What's that about ? Standard in most of the curry places I've been in - along with those bowls of whatever they are, that everybody dips into whilst they're waiting (so you are eating stuff that dozens of other people have handled - many of them straight out of the pub, and, more to the point, the pub toilets...). Incidentally, when the Ancient Druids shut, the Druid's Arms (which was then called something else I can't remember) made a huge fuss about changing its name "back" to the Druid's Arms, claiming that they were now able to restore their original name. And yet the two pubs were called different names! I remember the sad day the pub changed its name to the HogsHead and many of the locals rebelled and went elsewhere but there was great delight when eventually it changed back again but I don't ever remember any link to the ancient druids as they had always been two separate boozers. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2019 16:21:55 GMT
Standard in most of the curry places I've been in - along with those bowls of whatever they are, that everybody dips into whilst they're waiting (so you are eating stuff that dozens of other people have handled - many of them straight out of the pub, and, more to the point, the pub toilets...). Incidentally, when the Ancient Druids shut, the Druid's Arms (which was then called something else I can't remember) made a huge fuss about changing its name "back" to the Druid's Arms, claiming that they were now able to restore their original name. And yet the two pubs were called different names! I remember the sad day the pub changed its name to the HogsHead and many of the locals rebelled and went elsewhere but there was great delight when eventually it changed back again but I don't ever remember any link to the ancient druids as they had always been two separate boozers. And in fact co-existed with the word Druids in their name for many years. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2019 23:00:32 GMT
Standard in most of the curry places I've been in - along with those bowls of whatever they are, that everybody dips into whilst they're waiting (so you are eating stuff that dozens of other people have handled - many of them straight out of the pub, and, more to the point, the pub toilets...). Incidentally, when the Ancient Druids shut, the Druid's Arms (which was then called something else I can't remember) made a huge fuss about changing its name "back" to the Druid's Arms, claiming that they were now able to restore their original name. And yet the two pubs were called different names! I remember the sad day the pub changed its name to the HogsHead and many of the locals rebelled and went elsewhere but there was great delight when eventually it changed back again but I don't ever remember any link to the ancient druids as they had always been two separate boozers. I remember something about now being the only pub called the Druid's Arms. But perhaps they were tallking about just using the word 'Druid's'? Names apart, it was quite a decent pub when it was the Hogs - a real fire, for a start, decent beers, and lots of little nooks and crannies to hide away in and get some peace. In my single days, my treat (when I could afford it!), was to buy a book in Waterstones, and then go over the road and enjoy it, and a pint or two, in the Hogs. Happy days... Not been in there for a few years (or, sadly, many other pubs...) but one thing I'm sure won't have changed was that strange step just before (or after?) you went into the gents! That seems to be a common thing in pubs - do they do it deliberately to check how pissed you are??? |
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