Now that I’ve got Portugal out of my system I can concentrate on the serious business of having a good old rant about Greene King and their plans to ruin my local pub, shown here, in all it’s glory:
The day we moved in to our first house in Farnborough, nearly 42 years ago, we waited, and waited for the removal van to arrive from Ipswich. In had been due at 11.00 am but by one o’clock it still hadn’t arrived – no mobile phones in those days. I had had enough and decided to find the nearest pub before closing time, then 2.00 pm. I found the Fox, was immediately made welcome, and I have been drinking there ever since.
Having spent the first 24 years of my life in Suffolk, The Fox was a home from home. Exactly what I had been used to; a spit and sawdust for the blokes and a posh for when you take your wife or girlfriend out , and when I say posh I mean slightly more comfortable than the public. It had an old fashioned off licence attached and when the local store started to sell alcohol the landlady started to sell groceries!
The Fox is pretty much the same today as it was then except the off licence has gone. It is the community centre. If you want something done, want to borrow a van, need a helping hand with some repair or just a shoulder to cry on, you go to the Fox.
Just before we left for Portugal, two suited and booted young area managers from Greene King were dispatched by Greene King senior management to unveil the plans for the pub and win over the locals.
The lounge bar was packed to capacity. There were even local councillors, representatives from CAMRA and the local press.
The plan was, they proudly explained, to knock down the wall between the Public and the Lounge bars, provide extra tables and seating and serve an extensive range of hot and cold food. The Fox was to become one of Greene Kings “Meet and Eat” establishments.
We were assured that the company had done it’s market research and there was a real demand for this type of outlet. Further, the pub would not lose its’ community image in fact it would improve it.
Bollocks!
I was angry, and was quick to point out a few facts to them:
Yes you may have counted the chimney pots but that doesn’t mean a thing if the people underneath those chimney pots don’t have a pot to piss in!
Further, the day you knock down the wall between the two bars the pub will die a death. Any “hooray henrys” dropping in for a “spot of lunch” or a “lite bite” will be met with a head butt and they might find it difficult to eat with no teeth.
No one objects to the pub serving food, in fact, when I first entered the pub, all those years ago, food was served and there was a choice
Pork Pie with Mustard
and
Pork Pie without Mustard
Yes the pub needs money spending on it, of course it does.You haven’t spent a penny on it since you inherited it as part of the Moorlands takeover in 1999.
I could have gone on but I was not the only angry person present and after a barrage of questions, reasons as to why the plan would not work and much abuse, the still defiant young suits exited stage left, rather swiftly, after first buying every one present a drink. A gesture that I am sure they only did to ensure that they got out alive.
What is also disgraceful is how the Greene King have gone about the plan. The landlady who initially took over for a trial period, has signed a one year tenancy and moved into the pub with her family, had not been party to the plans until brewery men turned up to measure up the pub. She has 3 dogs and 4 cats so therefore doesn’t feature in the plans unless she parts with her pets. She and her family run the pub and there are no outside bar staff. It is a real family, community pub and always has been.
What Greene King are proposing just won’t work and the pub, MY PUB, will die Since the meeting the Farnborough News published this front page article:
Pub should stay for 'drinkers, not diners'
By Tim Harris
February 24, 2012
A BREWERY’S plan to turn an historic Farnborough pub into a ‘meet and eat’ has been met with anger by regulars.
Suffolk brewery Greene King, which owns The Fox, in Chapel Lane, recently announced proposals to change it into a modern food pub.
A spokesman from Greene King said: “The Fox has been identified as a potential pub for investment as a Greene King Meet & Eat community pub.
“We are currently evaluating the feasibility of this project and, whilst plans have been drawn up, there is no firm decision in place yet.”
Representatives from the brewery attended a meeting in The Fox last Thursday, where they faced fierce opposition to the brewery’s plans.
One drinker said: “This [pub] may be the boil on the backside of Greene King, but it is our boil.”
Another argued: “We come in here to relax, to have a few beers – we do not want food here.”
Customers in the pub said they felt this was the wrong area for a ‘meet and eat’ and believe it would not only lose trade, but also not attract new customers.
Regulars in the pub have compiled a petition against the Greene King proposal, which has nearly 600 signatures on it.
Some residents said they have been drinking in The Fox for years, and in some cases, more than half a century.
Andy Blackman, spokesman for the pub, said: “It is a very, very bad idea. The people who drink in this pub do not want it to be turned into an eatery. They want their pub to stay as a pub.”
More than 60 people crowded into The Fox to give their opinions to the representatives from Greene King.
The two area managers sent by the brewery stood at the back of the room, surrounded by a hoard of protesters.
They said The Fox would at some point have a ‘limited life-spell’.
“There are levels in the life-cycle,” said Mike O’Connor, of Greene King. “What we are looking at is at some point we have a limited life-spell at The Fox. We are at a crossroads, for pubs in general.”
According to customers in The Fox, the pub had been failing during recent years, until landlady Maureen Binstead took over last March.
Mrs Binstead was initially given the pub on a temporary basis, before being handed a year’s tenancy in September 2011.
Fifty-eight-year-old Mrs Binstead said: “My granddad used to drink here, obviously there is a lot of sentiment to do with The Fox for me.
“It is a special pub, it has been the heart of this village for many, many years.”
Drinkers in The Fox gave support to Ms Binstead during last week’s meeting, where on more than one occasion, the entire room applauded the landlady.
“Maureen has turned it around,” said Mr Blackman. “A year ago, when the pub was failing, Maureen has gone in there and turned the pub around.
“Please allow Maureen to do what she needs to do to this pub.
It is believed The Fox has been a public house since 1886, and the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has argued it is the last remaining ‘traditional drinkers’ pub in Farnborough.
Paul Cowper, of CAMRA, said: “They [Greene King] should leave it as it is. It is the only drinking pub in Farnborough now.
“From what I have seen down there, the Fox is very special, it is a traditional drinkers’ pub.”
While we were away a 600 signature petition has been presented to the brewery by CAMRA. Two directors from Greene King have visited the pub and my old mate Gerald Howarth MP, following discussions with local councillors, locals and the landlady, has taken up the case and written to Simon Longbottom, the Managing Director of Greene King, urging them to reconsider.
MP backs bid to keep pub for 'drinkers'
By Tim Harris
March 13, 2012
FARNBOROUGH and Aldershot MP Gerald Howarth has backed a campaign against a brewery's plan to alter an historic pub.
Suffolk brewery Greene King, which owns The Fox, in Chapel Lane, Farnborough, recently announced proposals to change it into a modern food pub, called a 'meet & eat'.
Representatives from the brewery visited The Fox in February to outline the plans, and talk to people in the pub.
The draft plans have met almost unanimous opposition from all involved with The Fox, and Mr Howarth has written to Greene King, suggesting the brewery listen to users of the pub.
His letter said: “I have been approached by a number of constituents who are very concerned about Greene King's proposals to turn The Fox into a 'meet & eat' community pub, or gastro pub.
“When I visited the pub, I was told that the representatives of Greene King were not particularly sympathetic to the overwhelming views expressed to them.
“It seems to me that your company would be well advised to respond positively to the concerns which have been expressed.”
Regulars in The Fox said they do not want the pub to be changed, and believe a 'meet & eat' is the wrong style of pub for the area, and its clientele.
A petition against the Greene King proposal has around 600 signatures on it.
The Welsh Bard, a former employee of Greene King, has come with this:
THE FOX ON THE RUN
It’s time to shut your mobile phones,
And stop those noisy clocks!
Let’s have some peace for Baltzer’s moans
About his local Fox.
The troubles of the world are his,
And all because Greene King
Have plans to grow their local biz
And food’s the latest thing.
Yes, Chris, this is the gastro-age,
So that’s the way it goes,
And many pubs have reached the stage –
It’s food or else they close.
Though I’m with you on this one, Chris,
I feel I ought to mention
Don’t count on me to take the piss...
The brewery pays my pension!
And anyway, the fact remains,
That we’re all grumpy now –
In Cardiff, Brains have lost their brains,
And soon our local Plough
Will undergo the self-same fate,
As beer makes way for grub...
In Cardiff, as in Cove, old mate,
They’re killing off the pub!
He is right of course, but it’s fingers crossed until a final decision is made, which is expected any day soon.
WATCH THIS SPACE.
Meanwhile back in Lesley the caravan season is in full swing. Already wheeled out on stage have been the Searchers and the Manfreds, which leads me nicely into:
