Readers may wish to know that Long Man ales from Litlington in East Sussex (including their Best Bitter and their World Beer Award winning Old Man) are now available at the Bricklayer’s Arms in Putney and at the Eagle Ale House. This follows arrangements being made for direct delivery from the brewery. Needless to say they outsell most of their other, albeit excellent, selection of cask ales!
While writing, I would like to highly recommend the Andover Arms in the area known as Brackenbury Village (W6 0DL). It is run by Luke and Helder, formerly of the White Horse in Parsons Green.
Tony Bell
TOLLY PUBS
Further to my letter in the February/March edition regarding Tolly Cobbold closing their brewery in Walthamstow and selling off their London pubs, in the late 1970s to early 1980s Tollys tried to re-enter the London market by purchasing pubs in W1 and E1. These were the Westmoreland Arms in George Street, W1 (now a restaurant) and the Ship on the Green on Stepney Green, E1 (now private housing).
Colin Price
THE BLACK HORSE, GREENFORD
So Fuller’s have decided to close the Black Horse in Greenford, despite the fact that ‘shutting pubs is not something that comes easily to us at Fuller’s’. Their statement (page 20, February/March edition) goes on to say that the pub was ‘no longer viable as a business’. I have to agree with the first part of Fuller’s statement about it not being easy to close pubs, as over the past couple of years they appear to have had to work very hard at running the Black Horse into the ground to ensure that it was no longer viable. The pub relied on food sales to help keep it going but the kitchen was closed for a long time last year because Fuller’s were apparently unable to find a chef, much to the bemusement of staff and regulars.
The kitchen eventually reopened, food sales resumed and a large number of Christmas bookings were taken. Everything was looking good until the company decided at short notice to close the kitchens again just before Christmas, meaning that the pub had to cancel all their Christmas party bookings with the consequent loss of business and good will. This was hardly conducive to ensuring that the business remained viable. Staff and management were apparently unaware of the imminent closure until they were called to a staff meeting at 10am on the morning of the actual closure. Rumours of the pub’s possible closure have been around for some time now and the neighbouring Railway is also rumoured to be under threat. Both pubs adjoin a massive redevelopment area and the land they occupy is presumably very valuable to a developer and could provide a decent cash windfall for the owners. This is despite the fact that most of the redevelopment involves the conversion of commercial sites to housing, which will see a sudden influx of hundreds (or maybe thousands) of new residents and potential customers arriving on the pub’s doorstep. The campaign to keep the Black Horse open was well supported by local residents, even by those who would not usually visit a pub, and it was widely regarded as a true Asset of Community Value. The cynical action by Fuller’s has left a sour taste in the mouth and created a lot of bad feeling towards the company. Of course, with the ACV listing for the pub in place, it has to be offered for sale as a going concern but I would imagine that the price being asked for it would be overinflated because of its potential value as a redevelopment site. Hopefully though, someone will be able to buy the pub and run it as the successful business it deserves to be.
Paul Gordon
Editor’s note: given that some of what Paul says may be contentious, I, of course, offer Fuller’s the right of reply.