09/06/2026
📣 Time for a long-overdue weekly update! 📣
Lets talk about some of the things that have already changed over the last few weeks;
🍲 We launched our new menu - the new Marmite dishes have been selling really well and you guys have had some great feedback on the warm baguettes, so I'm very pleased with how those are going. The condiment carriers have had a little upgrade - we started off with sachets of sauce, then we upgraded to the red and brown sauce bottles for ketchup and brown sauce (which actually feels like a step back with all the issues they've caused) so from today onwards there are proper HP and Heinz Ketchup bottles in the carriers. I'll make use of the larger bottles in normal cooking or at my Bap Station for carboots - we won't be refilling the bottles in the carriers with the cheaper alternatives, I'd rather pay a little more for a better quality product.
🎰 Pull the Ball on Friday nights has been going well and the jackpot is slowly climbing! If you fancy your chances at the jackpot or free shots and pints, grab your ticket when you're here on Friday evenings!
⚽️ The World Cup posters went up around the bar - there are multiple chances to win cash prizes with our sweepstake, a brewery-sponsored selfie challenge and some free pint games during match times.
✉️ You may have noticed at the bottom of the car park a new InPost Collection/Drop-Off point. This was installed at the behest of the brewery to allow a more accessible location for your parcel activities. We know there's a Post Office 3 doors down from us, but the brewery didn't, and I had no idea they were installing it until after they'd sent a contractor to pour the foundation for it. It isn't live on InPost's website yet.
💦 The gent's urinals now flush!?! We've been told by several plumbers that we've called out to look at what's going on that it's just a build-up of limescale after the water not being turned on for so long, and then nothing happening when the water is on. Thus, no flushing. So our Trev has had a quick look and replaced the batteries in the flushing mechanism.. they now flush properly. As I'm writing this he's gone to grab some kit so we can sort out the draining issue then we're back in the gent's for the day until all the issues are sorted. Soda bombs are my favourite!
🧹 Internally we've been having a good clear-out. When we moved in there were so many boxes of tatt and useless rubbish in the building, especially in the cellar that is no good to anyone. Spending some time re-organising hasn't really been high on my list of priorities, but I'm glad we're slowly getting through it as this provides us with almost a whole new room for.. other things..
Now what about things that are coming up?
🎱 We're still waiting for the new pool table for the function room, which is now looking like first week of July for it's arrival.
🛒 I'm creating a food-box programme for local residents; we'd deliver on a Tuesday if you'd like a delivery but if you're happy to collect then you get the same sized box twice a week (Tuesday and Friday). The aim is to provide people with either a fresh produce supplement for larger families, or a good sized box of fresh and dry foods for people living on their own or as a couple. Sometimes it's difficult (or very expensive) buying fresh food in smaller quantities, especially meats that you might not get through before it starts to turn. We'll be looking at obtaining some funding from the council to support this venture initially, and then once we get it going we'll be able to use the profits to benefit local community groups and to support the amazing volunteering efforts around our town. More on this at a later date.
🧧 Sticking with the food theme; we trialled our Stir-Fry Sunday menu at the weekend, and considering we didn't advertise it at all prior to 2pm it went incredibly well! The menu has now had some tweaks and I've added some amazing Korean options, too. This will launch properly this coming Sunday. Why Chinese food? It's the best cuisine to help me use up all of our ingredients so I'm not throwing as much away at the end of the week. And.. Chinese food is amazing!
Remember: I don't do portion control, so you're getting far more food per dish than at a normal takeaway! This will also be available on Just-Eat on Sundays. The prices on Just-Eat are a little more expensive than they are if you were to order at the bar to takeaway as Just-Eat takes a 30% cut of the order value.
This will sadly be the case until we can afford our own driver, then the costs can go back down, but that won't happen until the volume of deliveries increases massively throughout the week.
I think that's enough for now.
Thanks for reading my essay!
~ Mike
