January 2011 Update on Wetherspoon's here
I don’t profess to know much about pubs, other than the price of drinks within tends to be far too high, and probably always has been. What little I know is that the signboard, outward façade and internal ambience often give an air of tradition, of individuality, whereas in reality the pub itself is more than likely tied to a brewery or part of a managed or leased chain.
Punch Taverns is one such chain. It has 8,448 pubs in the UK, four three of which—The Corporation, The Myddleton Arms, The Wynnstay Arms and The Star—are in Rhuthun. Punch Taverns has recently fallen on credit crunchy hard times. It abandoned its shareholders’ dividend following a decline in sales. It has had to reinvest £100mil in concessions to assuage its tenants and landlords.
Punch blames a number of factors, including reduced household budgets, rising costs and not least supermarket sales of cheap booze. The last of these is something that managed to see off Oddbins in Rhuthun. After all, for the first time ever, as much alcohol’s sold in supermarkets as in pubs. Just look at the drinks aisles in Tesco Rhuthun, now (ironically?) joined by the area once set aside for a range back-to-school clothes.
And if you saw the inaugural TV programme in the ‘Rogue Restaurants’ series in late August, you’ll know that Punch came in for some serious criticism over its food hygiene.
With all these factors in mind, has Rhuthun an oversupply of watering holes? A new addition is The Old Picture House, which offers a slick bar for those who wish to drink and not eat. And then there’s Wetherspoons. Will it or won’t it descend onto the Square, to take over the Castle Hotel? All’s quiet at the moment but the town seems either apathetic or welcoming to the Tesco-of-the-pub-trade, not least because it’s a like-for-like swap of licensed premises and because the Castle Hotel needs considerable attention to the crumbling fabric of this prominent building.
So, the question is, can all these pubs stay afloat? Is now perhaps *not* the best time to enter the pub trade? Will the market take its course as it has in the past? Remember Rhuthun, when a far smaller town, was once chock-full of taverns.
These are questions potential landlords will be asking. Punch’s The White Horse, Llanfair DC is currently available, and one that’s changed landlord a few times over the last couple of years. Crumbs, it even changed its name about ten years ago unbelievably to the Haymakers.
Punch last week erected a vacancy sign at the reputedly 16th century Myddleton Arms, next to the Castle Hotel. The Mid is one of Rhuthun’s most famous buildings, known for the benefit of American tourists as the Seven Eyes, after the Dutch-style dormer windows facing into the Square. Crumbs, even the Mid changed its name (to the Seven Eyes!) for a while.
The Mid benefits from those who crawl along the Square of a Friday & Saturday night. But is that enough to see a caretaker of this most famous Rhuthun landmark?
I don’t profess to know much about pubs, other than the price of drinks within tends to be far too high, and probably always has been. What little I know is that the signboard, outward façade and internal ambience often give an air of tradition, of individuality, whereas in reality the pub itself is more than likely tied to a brewery or part of a managed or leased chain.
Punch Taverns is one such chain. It has 8,448 pubs in the UK, Punch blames a number of factors, including reduced household budgets, rising costs and not least supermarket sales of cheap booze. The last of these is something that managed to see off Oddbins in Rhuthun. After all, for the first time ever, as much alcohol’s sold in supermarkets as in pubs. Just look at the drinks aisles in Tesco Rhuthun, now (ironically?) joined by the area once set aside for a range back-to-school clothes.
And if you saw the inaugural TV programme in the ‘Rogue Restaurants’ series in late August, you’ll know that Punch came in for some serious criticism over its food hygiene.
With all these factors in mind, has Rhuthun an oversupply of watering holes? A new addition is The Old Picture House, which offers a slick bar for those who wish to drink and not eat. And then there’s Wetherspoons. Will it or won’t it descend onto the Square, to take over the Castle Hotel? All’s quiet at the moment but the town seems either apathetic or welcoming to the Tesco-of-the-pub-trade, not least because it’s a like-for-like swap of licensed premises and because the Castle Hotel needs considerable attention to the crumbling fabric of this prominent building.So, the question is, can all these pubs stay afloat? Is now perhaps *not* the best time to enter the pub trade? Will the market take its course as it has in the past? Remember Rhuthun, when a far smaller town, was once chock-full of taverns.
These are questions potential landlords will be asking. Punch’s The White Horse, Llanfair DC is currently available, and one that’s changed landlord a few times over the last couple of years. Crumbs, it even changed its name about ten years ago unbelievably to the Haymakers.
Punch last week erected a vacancy sign at the reputedly 16th century Myddleton Arms, next to the Castle Hotel. The Mid is one of Rhuthun’s most famous buildings, known for the benefit of American tourists as the Seven Eyes, after the Dutch-style dormer windows facing into the Square. Crumbs, even the Mid changed its name (to the Seven Eyes!) for a while.
The Mid benefits from those who crawl along the Square of a Friday & Saturday night. But is that enough to see a caretaker of this most famous Rhuthun landmark?
Tags:
Pubs