Cambridge Pubs
Simon
Fort St George to close for £500K refurbishment.
I was in there yesterday and a chap behind the bar said that the previous
tenant has now gone and GK have now put in a Manager.
All work is planned to be ready in time to re open for Strawberry Fair.
Simon
Anthony Deane
news:memo.2008033...@ssainsbury.compulink.co.uk...
So, goodbye to the old fashioned, cosy wood and fireplaces. And hello to
chrome and glass.
Probably.
Anthony
C Coward
>> Fort St George to close for £500K refurbishment.
Why? I really don't understand the point of major refurbs on pubs that are
basically fine as they are.
>So, goodbye to the old fashioned, cosy wood and fireplaces. And hello to
>chrome and glass.
>Probably.
And a loss it would be. It's certainly not the best of pubs and expensive
IIRS, but that small room at the side added a bit of character.
DavidM
And, I bet they'll be removing the taps for IPA, Speckled Hen and Abbots
Ale. No doubt they will be replacing them with three overpriced bland
drinks and an occasional OK seasonal beer. The injustice of it.
God forbid it's not ready in time to help the crusties get drunk and
start fights during Strawberry Fair. Let's hope the shiny new refit is
not smeared with hippy mess in June.
--
DavidM newsNO@_SPAMdjmorgan.org.uk
www.djmorgan.org.uk
John Burnham
> "Anthony Deane" <ajd66[removethisbit]@cam.ac.uk> writes:
>
>>> Fort St George to close for £500K refurbishment.
>
> Why? I really don't understand the point of major refurbs on pubs that are
> basically fine as they are.
>
Welcome to the wonderful world of modern pub management. I particularly
dislike Greene King's approach - they seem to have a rolling schedule of
improvements which are often anything but.
J
Colin Rosenstiel
@cam.ac.uk (Anthony Deane) wrote:
> "Simon" <simon....@nospam.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:memo.2008033...@ssainsbury.compulink.co.uk...
> > For those who, like me, take an interest in these matters;
> >
> > Fort St George to close for £500K refurbishment.
> > I was in there yesterday and a chap behind the bar said that the
> > previous tenant has now gone and GK have now put in a Manager.
> > All work is planned to be ready in time to re open for Strawberry
> > Fair.
>
> So, goodbye to the old fashioned, cosy wood and fireplaces. And
> hello to chrome and glass.
>
> Probably.
Unlikely in this case as it's a listed building. There was a planning
application last week:
"08/0401/LBC
Fort St George
Midsummer Common
Victoria Avenue
Cambridge
Cambridgeshire
CB4 1HA
Restoration of fireplace and other internal works."
--
Colin Rosenstiel
C Coward
>Restoration of fireplace and other internal works."
Expensive fireplace!
Malcolm Lee
> C Coward wrote, On 31/03/2008 15:02:
>> "Anthony Deane" <ajd66[removethisbit]@cam.ac.uk> writes:
>>
>>>> Fort St George to close for £500K refurbishment.
>>
>> Why? I really don't understand the point of major refurbs on pubs that
>> are basically fine as they are.
>>
>>> So, goodbye to the old fashioned, cosy wood and fireplaces. And hello
>>> to chrome and glass.
>>
>>> Probably.
>>
>> And a loss it would be. It's certainly not the best of pubs and
>> expensive IIRS, but that small room at the side added a bit of
>> character.
>
> And, I bet they'll be removing the taps for IPA, Speckled Hen and Abbots
> Ale. No doubt they will be replacing them with three overpriced bland
> drinks and an occasional OK seasonal beer. The injustice of it.
>
If there's ever a definition of "bland drinks", it's the current GK
"portfolio" (as they like to call it). IPA is the epitome of
mediocrity - it has been virtually undrinkable for several years now.
Abbot used to be very bitter and strong; now it's just strong.
Old Speckled Hen only has the name in common with the once
distinctive beer brewed by Morlands.
DavidM
> On Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:25:21 +0100, DavidM wrote:
>
>> C Coward wrote, On 31/03/2008 15:02:
>>> "Anthony Deane" <ajd66[removethisbit]@cam.ac.uk> writes:
>>>
>>>>> Fort St George to close for £500K refurbishment.
>>> Why? I really don't understand the point of major refurbs on pubs that
>>> are basically fine as they are.
>>>> So, goodbye to the old fashioned, cosy wood and fireplaces. And hello
>>>> to chrome and glass.
>>>> Probably.
>>> And a loss it would be. It's certainly not the best of pubs and
>>> expensive IIRS, but that small room at the side added a bit of
>>> character.
>> And, I bet they'll be removing the taps for IPA, Speckled Hen and Abbots
>> Ale. No doubt they will be replacing them with three overpriced bland
>> drinks and an occasional OK seasonal beer. The injustice of it.
>
> If there's ever a definition of "bland drinks", it's the current GK
> "portfolio" (as they like to call it). IPA is the epitome of
> mediocrity - it has been virtually undrinkable for several years now.
> Abbot used to be very bitter and strong; now it's just strong.
> Old Speckled Hen only has the name in common with the once
> distinctive beer brewed by Morlands.
yep, all true. (I was being sarcastic!)
Ale Fresco their "guest" ale was OK last summer, quite nice and hoppy.
Not many pubs had that on though.
--
DavidM newsNO@_SPAMdjmorgan.org.uk
www.djmorgan.org.uk
Malcolm Lee
Sorry, missed that - my fault. I see red (!) whenever Greene King is
mentioned.
DavidM
Mildly on topic, I'm not too fussed about GK taking over or refitting
city centre pubs. There are far worse things to worry about during city
centre drinking than the taste of the ale.
They seem to enjoy destroying history, there's a take-over and destroy
policy when it comes to buying small breweries. Ridleys was a real
favorite of mine, their little pubs could be found selling great beer
in lots of little Essex villages. GK bought them up, immediately closed
the 160 year old picturesque brewery and turned Ridleys into nothing
more than a product name. All lost because it removed a tiny piece of
competition from the market.
--
DavidM newsNO@_SPAMdjmorgan.org.uk
www.djmorgan.org.uk
Elizabeth Cook
"DavidM" <newsNO@_SPAMdjmorgan.org.uk> wrote in message
news:65caihF...@mid.individual.net...
> And, I bet they'll be removing the taps for IPA, Speckled Hen and Abbots
> Ale. No doubt they will be replacing them with three overpriced bland
> drinks and an occasional OK seasonal beer. The injustice of it.
Not necessarily. The new look Rock on Cherry Hinton Road was reported to me
as an 'awful chain pub' but it does Abbott ale, IPA and another one that
pleased the real ale drinkers. With Peroni on tap, lots of reasonable wine
and some decent spirits it was a very nice place to spend an evening
especially with a large group. Much nicer than the old Rock!
Liz
Malcolm Lee
A favourite of mine also - we used to live in Colchester and had lots
of Ridleys pubs in the vicinity. The day GK closed their brewery was the
day I vowed never knowingly to go into a GK pub again. It's sometimes
quite difficult as they seem increasingly to try to disguise the fact
that the pub is owned by GK - they must know what a poor reputation they
now have among many people.
Brian Watson
> They seem to enjoy destroying history, there's a take-over and destroy
> policy when it comes to buying small breweries.
I used to drink Grays mild and bitter when I was in my late teens.
8 pints down in a night and I could still walk home.
When I got home I'd have a cup of tea that was stronger than Grays bitter.
Furthermore, in my day blah blah blah whippets blah blah blah know they're
born blah blah blah.
--
Brian
"Fight like the Devil, die like a gentleman."
Paul Treadaway
news:65ck9kF...@mid.individual.net:
> policy when it comes to buying small breweries. Ridleys was a real
> favorite of mine, their little pubs could be found selling great beer
> in lots of little Essex villages. GK bought them up, immediately
> closed the 160 year old picturesque brewery and turned Ridleys into
> nothing more than a product name. All lost because it removed a tiny
> piece of competition from the market.
I'm not a great fan of GK, but in the interests of fairness I should point out
that GK didn't initiate the takeover - Ridleys was up for sale, and someone
was going to buy it. If not GK then who? Certainly it wasn't about removing
competition - they were after the pubs primarily I think. Ridleys is part of
a larger trend of old family breweries selling up when a new generation of
the family come along (see also Gales, taken over by Fullers). A lot worse
can happen than a big brewery taking over in these cases.
Mark Goodge
keyboard and typed:
That tends to happen to family-run companies in every area of
business, not just brewing.
Mark
--
Pointless waffle (again) at http://mark.x.tc
"Take me or leave me, don't have to believe me"
Paul Treadaway
news:dti1141u8p5k536lf...@news.markshouse.net:
No doubt, but with the decline in the licensed trade there has been a lot
of it going on in the brewing industry recently.
Simon
to Manager.
First impressions; Oh dear!!! the previous array of real ale pumps have
been replaced by just two GK pumps. IPA & Abbot!
What a shame!
Simon
Dan Sheppard
Country /and/ Western, eh? That's a shame.
(On the subject of beer, I accidentally had my first keg beer for, I
dunno, about six years the other day. It reminded me of the days when
I didn't used to like beer. Okay, so it was nitrokeg through a flower,
but still, I'm glad I live in Cambridge, so that this isn't my
impression of the whole beer world).
Dan.