Wednesday 22 January 2014

Home run

So we're on the home stretch (fair wind/fingers crossed etc etc!!) for our lovely pub coming together and what you can see in this picture is the upstairs part of the pub being viewed from new HUGE French doors that will lead you straight out into the garden. Some of the lighting has been put on - all has come from reclaimed ships fixtures and fittings, and when you see the light fitting over the new stairs I promise you will be blown away by it!!

The whole pub is still pretty much a huge building site and as one one workman was heard to say 'There's not a blooming straight wall in the place'!!  But they are working incredibly hard and in shocking weather conditions that has definitely not helped them at all.  But where there has been a break in the weather then the painters have been out there and made full use of the dry weather.

My little peep holes that I created in the windowlened windows have proved very popular, and I think the workmen were a little surprised at all the interest being shown in their work.

Our own team have been in this week painting the Hobbit House as well as painting and cleaning garden furniture. The store room has been emptied and tidied and surprisingly quite a bit(at last) thrown out!!

I am now far from bored (see the last Blog) as things are really cranking up a gear and I suddenly have quite a lot to do, so I am unlikely to write another blog before we open - which we hope to do either the afternoon of the 29th or Thursday 30th January.

So, I hope you'll think of us and wish us all luck as we endeavour to get to our opening date. A bit of good weather wouldn't go amiss either!!!

Much love

Liz x

Sunday 12 January 2014

I can't believe I'm saying this, but........

The pub with no name - or beer!!!!!
I am bored!!!! Bored!!!! Bored!!!! A whole week we've been shut, and whilst the first few days were nice lie ins and lazing around - NOW - I'm thoroughly and utterly bored!!!

Yes, a whole week we've been shut! On our last Saturday we had very little food but with creativity from my kitchen team we managed to serve 108 meals.......... SOH had worked the beers exceedingly well and we wasted only a little bit of one beer! So that went very well..........

The team turned up on the following day to strip out the pub and the designer and team with 2 small lorries took away every stick of furniture, bric a brack and countless photos, pictures and mirrors. Then, there we were with an empty pub........... very bizarre it was too! In 6 short hours the Vic went from a busy happy pub with bags of character to a cold and pretty unfriendly shell. We meanwhile, went to another pub in town and looked a bit sorrowful!

The builders turned up the following day on time and by day 4 the Vic was completely and utterly under their spell. Wires (dozen of the buggers) appeared from seemingly nowhere causing a not too small headache for Gary the foreman, walls were knocked down and first coats of paint were applied!
Walls were exposed at the back top of the old restaurant showing brickwork that had not seen light for many hundreds of years - some of which SOH has kept for a rockery in the pub garden.

The cellar has had some additional drainage put in so that SOH can clean it easier (bit of a pain its been - but as it's not my part of ship I can't confess to being awfully interested!) but he was like a child who'd experienced Christmas for the first time.

I popped my head in last week and have to say that I was totally and completely overwhelmed - not just by the fact its a massive building site, but that I can already see the amazing potential of how its going to look when it's finished. But apart from a site visit this week I'm going to stay away and you're not getting any more photos because actually I want to feel the joy of seeing it made over and I want you to experience it too. Also, because doing this blog from my home means I am using my new lap top and have not yet mastered art of putting more than one photo on!!!! So, if you really want to look at what's happening have a look at the Victoria Inn facebook. Sorry darlings!

So what else have I done this week?? Well, I've cleaned and tidied our kitchen cupboards at home, we've been out and bought paint etc for the Hobbit House which also has a makeover whilst we're shut - but we are doing that ourselves. We've also visited another St Austell pub; The Cornish Arms, where we had an amazing meal!

We also took the team out for the day on Wednesday.  We went to Plymouth Gin first which was brilliant - drinking Gin at about 11 in the morning was a bit harsh though....... then to Rockfish for brilliant Fish & Chips. An afternoons bowling with me screaming at the top of my lungs egging on the teams (as well as playing) and finally a so so meal at a chain restaurant in the Bowling complex.

We go on a bit of a buying trip for the pub this coming week as well as taking the chance to pop into Portsmouth and see my family. Menu stuff to do, paper to be sorted for printing menus on, staff uniforms to finalise etc, etc and etc...................



Saturday 4 January 2014

Last day today!


Yep - that's it at last..... after months of talking about it, the day has finally come that we're closed from close of business tonight until (hopefully) the 29th/30th January in order for our re-furbishment to take place.

We've got a few Steaks, Burgers and Fish dishes left for tonight, but sod all else! A little bit of Dartmoor Ale left likewise, but otherwise SOH has been his usual fantastic self and got the ordering spot on!

All of the team is in tomorrow morning at 9 to start stripping out, boxing, sorting and packing with the removal lorries coming at 11 to take down the pictures, dismantle furniture and take everything away. The contractors come in at 7.30 Monday morning and with good luck and a fair wind the work will start.

Its been a slightly fraught couple of days as we came the closest ever to being flooded with the water ending just 7 feet approximately from our front door.............. the rest of the town was not so lucky with pictures of a local RNLI guy sailing his boat down the high street making Sky News!! However, as I say we were ok and received lots of messages asking and hoping that we were all ok!

Wish us well for tomorrow and we'll see you all soon,

Liz x