What happened to this place?!

I was so excited when I left the office on Friday evening, because I was going to a pub re-opening. But not just any pub; the pub I've been going on about since the beginning of this blog.

For those of you that are new, you may not already know the story, but for my long-standing readers; you may remember that Hubby and I were made redundant from this pub, where we had both been working for a number of years. It was Hubby's main job, where he was working as Head Chef, but for me it was simply an additional £4,000 per year, because I already had my office job, but I was working all the hours under the sun to save up for our wedding.

Anyway, this all happened in November 2008, because the owner, who was like a second father to us all, decided to skip town without a word to anyone. You've probably realised that I try to avoid going into too many details on here, because I try to stay largely incognito (not that it always works). In this case, I'm avoiding the details because there's no point in opening old wounds; and these wounds are particularly raw.

But back to Friday's event; in June it was announced that the pub had been bought by four young entrepreneurs who already owned a couple of fancy wine bars in town.

Except this isn't a fancy wine bar in town. This is an English country inn.

We've spoken to one of the owners through Facebook (he contacted me, because I created the staff group on Facebook; I wasn't some crazy stalker). He said from the beginning that he wanted to keep it largely the same, with the same homely, comfortable atmosphere it was renowned for.

So, with baited breath, we went to the official re-opening. I should start by saying that I had an amazing evening, largely because I got to spend time with old colleagues and customers that I hadn't seen since my last shift at the pub - the Tuesday before the sh*t hit the proverbial fan.

But the pub?! Well, the shell might be the same, but it's a completely different place. Picture fancy tables, a fancy-worded menu (after all, a burger is still a burger) and fancy prices to go with it. Then picture staff who don't know a beer pump from their elbow, and four equally dim managers who think that flapping around is a good way to get something done.

I know I'm being overly critical, but I can't help it. I arrived with two guys that used to work there with me, and we all ordered the hamburger; which the manager informed us was the best thing on the menu by far. I guessed the chefs love their pepper, because I couldn't taste much else. But we soon learned that they don't even make the burgers on site, but they get a farmer to make them up to their "own private recipe". Fine, but you're the chef; he's the farmer. Surely the chef's supposed to make the burger. If he's just cooking it, then surely he's a cook, not a chef.

The guys then left, and I sat with more old workmates. This is when I ordered the fruit crumble, and they had their main courses. One of which ordered the fishcakes. The manager's response was "oh gosh; that's the tastiest dish we have!" - Are you kidding me? I may not have been the best barmaid slash waitress ever, but even I know you should stick to having one favourite per day.

I reckon the fishcakes were better than the burgers, so perhaps she was right on that one. But when we worked there, Hubby made a wicked burger. These ones, quite frankly didn't measure up. I know I'm biased; but wouldn't you be?

We had the dessert menus on our table for two hours, waiting for someone to take our order. In the end they went off the idea of desserts altogether. It was probably a good thing, since my custard had the consistency of water.


I guess what I'm saying is; I don't like change. Or perhaps it's because I feel like someone's torn it apart and tried to turn it into something it can never be. I'm protective over it. I know that's silly, because I know the old owner will never come back to run it. I wasn't the only one to have this opinion., but in the end it's down to the public to decide.

But enough of my tirade; in other news...


Would you believe it's taken me three months to figure out how to reinstate the "compose" mode when you're composing a post? I think that rates me one of the slowest bloggers on here! But I'm glad I've finally got it sorted; I was missing it...

I've spent the entire weekend uploading wedding photos to our wedding photo blog. My laptop has an issue with internet connection, so I literally have to disconnect and connect again each time I upload a photo. Phew, but it's done now, and I can sit back until I get more through the post.

Life is largely back to how it was before the wedding (and it's taken two weeks, ha ha). I'm immersed in my work again, though now I don't have anything interesting to distract me ;)

I'm now looking forward to our honeymoon in Hawaii, which is in... 6 weeks tomorrow. It sounds like a way off, but the last six weeks of the wedding countdown went really fast, so I'm not impatient... yet.