Tesco to close 43 stores…

…but in Tescoville, they’re opening yet another Express (or it might be a Metro). This time in a new build block, clearly built with provision for a convenience store on the ground floor.

I have tried hard, but I cannot think of a convenience store that is not Tesco. True, in the outlying villages there is a Sainsburys local, a Morrisons [whatever] and a little Waitrose, but these are in the centre of their own little conurbations, not part of Tescoville. I’m not counting a Marks and Spencer simply Food outlet as it’s in a retail development and about the same size as the food hall in any regular M&S.

I put the tally in Tescoville as follows: 2 large supermarkets, one centre and one edge of town; 2 as part of an Esso garage shop [the little Waitrose mentioned above is in a Shell garage shop]; 1 in a converted pub, 2 in other converted retail outlets (one a car showroom). Another pub was down to be convered to a Tesco, but somehow the application failed due to a nearby existing store – and that’s a terrible place, I’ve been in there and report that first hand! There is also a Tesco metro in one of the outlying villages, being the only food shop in the entire village.

Of course there are other large supermarkets, a big Sainsburys, Morrisons, ASDA, scattered around the place, and I’ve not counted a co-op or similar, or the independents being shops pre-existing the convenience store craze. But how and why Tesco have so dominated the convenience store sector in the town is beyond me. It is of note that in the neighbouring smaller towns in the area, Tesco is conspicuous by its absence.

Mind you, it’s not sweetness and light in the villages. The above Sainsburys seems to have caused the closure of the nearby Budgens, which is now empty (despite the larger floorspace it had).

This time it’s an historic pub…

I was in Tescoville over the weekend, and rather forced to take a route I don’t normally due to traffic. So I was slowly climbing up a street that leads up the hill (the scene of a past adventure, lost to this blog) when I noticed a lot of blackboards in a pub presently called “Scorpio”. This pub had had a couple of recent transformations, but was a true carriage pub in that it had wide gates for horses to be led down to stables etc.

The blackboards clearly stated the pub was closing, or as they euphamistically put it, moving elsewhere within the town, and indeed by the time I was passing it was closed. And I also noticed that the premises – freehold – were up for auction. This was a pub that was in existance before the between wars facade that was built on that street, and which indeed reduced it’s floor space making allowance for a larger road; thus the pub was incorporated into the facade.

Nearly every second shop front in that road is an estate agents – since the 1970s to my certain recollection – one can only guess it will become another estate agent.

As I was driving a moving car, and it was dark, I had no chance to take a photo, although I will try if only for the record.

But on the topic of the supermarket Tesco, which dominates the town by number and size of outlets, their recent travails have been a source of schadenfreude. Although there is only one Lidl in the area – or is it Aldi? – anyway only one of the two, I was amazed to discover a “little Waitrose” at a petrol station opening in a nearby hamlet – albeit the sort of place that a little Waitrose would open. Affluent suburb. And a pretty good place it turned out to be, apart from a town-wide power cut just as I was about to pay for my petrol purchase.

A garden shed…

The shed that my father designed and built himself is over 40 years old and ten years of neglect hasn’t helped. I believe it to be rescuable still, but would need alternative storage in the mean time. And I could do with a shed of different dimensions.

Any ready-to-assemble shed that I have ever seen for sale has one feature that I cannot understand. The door is about 5’6″ high at maximum. Anyone taller has to bow as they go in. I also gave away one such shed from my Aunt’s place, although there was a favour in return so I cannot really complain. A neighbour had a bespoke shed made, but it is off square, the door doesn’t close properly, and not a good advert.

I happened upon a website offering shed plans for thousands of designs, and so I signed up. Disappointed that some designs that were illustrated by photos on the intro page don’t appear, and that there are many duplications of the same plans under different file names, and most of the sheds are far larger than the entire garden I have to put it in. But there is a reasonable selection, and one may serve as the basis for what I need.

But to my surprise were included plans for the A frame building that I referred to in a post about loss of data in the digital age (at the end of the post) However, if I posted the plans here, I’d be breaking the copyright.

The Public House – will George V survive?

I’ve made a number of comments about the ‘George V’. In recent days it’s had a repaint job, new signs – plural, there was one plus an empty signpost before – and even some decking added. The repaint job looked odd – all the woodwork in lightish brown, but then I saw another pub in my travels today done in exactly the same way, so this appears to be a corporate new look.

I’ll try and get a photo and put in here.

I don’t know how much the interior has changed, but it seems that this pub has remained open throughout this promised refurbishment, so I cannot imagine it’s too startling a change.

But this pub is still standing. My travels today took me past the site of ‘George and Dragon’, now completely demolished, and going to be the site of nine homes.

—

On the point of packing in housing, near where I live there was a 4 – 5 bed detached house in moderate size garden – probably 1960s. It was empty for a long time – I don’t know why. Planning permission was obtained to demolish it at put in three 4 – 5 bedroom houses. I see now that number has increased to five houses.

Tescoville (2)

I had been so astonished by the site of the oh-so-familiar blue painted barriers around the car showroom, which I reported for the first time yesterday, I didn’t record that it was next-shop-but-one from an independant of the ‘Costcutter’ chain, and a couple of minutes walk from a Marks & Spencer’s Simply Food. (There is also a food hall in the centre of town M&S).

The ‘Costcutter’ is going to struggle, but I’d suspect that most of the business at the M&S Simply Food will remain there.

The motivation behind these two recent blogs is that it always seems to be Tesco. I’ve just remembered a third already existing ‘local’ Tesco in the town, cannot imagine how I could have forgotten it until now.

So this town has two major Tesco stores, three (at least) existing ‘local’ or ‘Metro’ Tesco stores, and at least two under construction. Rather a lot for one town. I’m surprised Sainsbury’s haven’t put one in.

Now OK, the total floor space of all the Tescos probably don’t add up to the hypermarket sized glass-sided warehouse branch on the A4 in Slough, but then this town is no-where near the size of Slough, either.

I must vary my route from now on, keeping my eye open for all the closed down pubs and other shops in the area, to see if this town really is becoming Tescoville.

It is interesting to note that some of the satellite towns in the area house a Sainsburys, and/or a Waitrose, plus M&S, but I’m unaware of even a converted telephone kiosk into a micro-Tescos in those towns.

I was in one of the Tescos – for research purposes – and I saw some goods branded ‘Fresh & Easy’, that is the Tesco-owned brand in the western US that hasn’t done well. Since it was fresh produce, it did seem hard to imagine why they were using the US brand on the goods.

End-of-an-era; The Public House (5)

It has been some time since I made any report on anything at all – it has been a busy time. But it has not escaped my notice that there have been more changes regarding pubs.

The ‘Geroge V’ seems to be staggering on, the ‘Let this pub’ sign appearing and disappearing. The ‘Golden Fleece’ seems to have closed down again, and a ‘To Let’ sign has reappeared, and all the theme night posters disappeared. But these pubs are still pubs, at least for now.

Now to the buildings that have changed. Two of those mentioned before are now ‘Sainsbury’s Local’ – The ‘Green Man’, and the ‘Duke of Wellington’. The former is an all new building, demolishing an historic building in the process, the latter refitted into the existing (1930s (?)) building. Another building being refitted is ‘The Warren’ (another 1930s building?), becoming a local Tesco’s, but that refit is still going on – as of today, it looks almost ready to receive stock.

The transformation of the ‘Duke of Wellington’ completed as ‘Sainsbury’s Local’ supermarket

As I drive around on business or simply on my necessary journeys, there are just so many pubs that are not open now when formerly they would have been; are they closed – open on weekends only? Closed – for business? Closed – to be sold for other purposes?

In my opinion, the traditional pub is within a few years of extinction. There was a radio programme this week that reported that in some areas of the UK it was uneconomic to open an ‘Off Licence’ (a shop selling alcohol for consumption ‘off the premises’) due to illegal imports of cheap lager and spirits – or just simply illegal manufacture in the UK. If Off Licenceses are uneconomic because of this illegal trade, no wonder public houses with their much higher overheads are closing down.

If such news makes it to radio programmes, it clearly is well advanced.

The illegal trade is only going to increase as the UK duty rate on alcohol is far higher than that across the channel, meaning that it is economic to go to France, fill a van with lager, and drive back (if you can do so evading customs) and sell it cheaper than the UK price. So doing it on an industrial scale clearly is highly profitable for the illegal trade. And the government needs revenue so much it’s hardly likely to cut the rate of duty, even if it were not afraid of the consequences of freely available cheap booze on the English.

It was that fear, during the 1914-18 war, that caused the introduction of so many of the restrictions of opening hours etc for the pub trade. The recent loosening of these restrictions – in a vain attempt to create a ‘cafe society’ – is also too late, and ineffective with the high rates of duty to contend with.

End-of-an-era; The Public House (4)

I find myself in an odd position here.  Banging on about a subject, yet I’ve not actually been in a Public House (‘pub’) for…I forget.  Oh, no, I remember, I said once before, 2010, on the day of the funeral of my Aunt.

Anyway, I noticed yesterday, driving past the building that was once ‘The Warren’ that notices are up on the temporary wooden partition that now surrounds all building works in the UK – quite why (law?  good practice?) I don’t know.  Anyway, the signs show that the building is to become a ‘Tesco Metro’, a rival company (albeit larger) than the one (Sainsbury’s) working on the (smaller building) ‘Duke of Wellington’ at the other end of the road.

Other Public Houses I have kept my eye on appear to have got new tenants; ‘George V’ and ‘Golden Fleece’ have, the latter putting out loads of banners indicating a themed night just about every night (Pool, curry, whatever).  ‘George V’ seems to have rather an amateur as the new tenant, given the poor quality of the new signs.

I did not report ‘The Terriers’ (which I remember as ‘The Black Boy’) which was up for sale, but now under new management, as the phrase goes, also under the tie of a brewery company formerly unknown in the area – Greene King.  What I remember as ‘The Cock Inn’ (on Cock Lane) has morphed yet again – it was closed for some time after its ‘Red Lion’ incarnation – as ‘The Junction’ restropub.

I wonder just how much the current recession is both populating these surviving pubs with new tenants, and the dire state of the market they are competing in.

End-of-an-era; The Public House (3)

An update on the buildings that I reported upon before.

The ‘Duke of Wellington’ has notices all over it suggesting that it will be coverted to a ‘local’ branch of a major supermarket. It is not named, but the colours and text suggests that it is Sainsbury’s. In addition, the lack of anything else suggests, at present that the current building will not be demolished, but heavily modified.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the road, ‘The Warren’ is covered with scaffolding. This is not what happens if it is to be demolished, so it must have a new use – probably housing – already settled.

—

Meanwhile, ‘Midway House’ has been demolished and the block of flats almost complete. ‘The Green Man’ is demolished but still a steel frame only (not even complete).

End-of-an-era: The Public House (2)

Although I updated the previous blog on this subject on the 5th March, there has been a lot more to note, even in the few examples that I discussed.

The ‘Duke of Wellington’ is boarded up, and is already looking very sad for itself. Meanwhile, the pub at the other end of the road, which I had a photo of (I didn’t name – ‘The Warren’) has now been surrounded by barriers and has the general air of about to be demolished.

The ‘Green Man’ had been demolished, and building work started – at least some ironwork has been put up on the site, but progress is surprisingly slow. I have no inside knowledge on this (rather late to try and save the pub) but I noticed a banner one morning: “The Green Man 1755 – 2012. R.I.P.”. [Rest in Peace].

While pubs such as ‘George V’ and ‘Golden Fleece’ still have signs out trying to lull the gullible to take them on, some pubs seem to have got new tenants in – at least, they are still trading, and the signs have gone. Although I noticed the latest attempt of Mine Host of the Golden Fleece has scrapped his latest attempt to keep the place afloat, if scratching out the (remarkably cheap) breakfast offer on the outside noticeboard is anything to go by.

I had a long chat with a woman I know who ran a pub for years. It seems that those who are managers, paid by the pubco, do fairly well, as they are, well, just paid employees. Pubs with a manager in are likely to survive, as the pubco is forking out cash in the form of the manager’s wages, so must think it is worth keeping them going. Pubs with a tied tenant (aka The Landlord, but I don’t use the term here because of the confusion) are the ones that cause grief.

Maybe some of the pubs where the signs have gone are now run by managers (for now, at least).

End-of-an-era: The Public House

The ‘Today’ programme has ‘Thought for the day’ at about 07:45 every day. This God-slot is rather contraversial, just for being there, let alone the subject matters.

This morning, the woman (denomination forgotten) was going on about Public House (pub) closures, and how, instead of giving up alcohol for Lent (next week), people should start visiting the pub again, generally increasing social contact, and incidentally helping the struggling pub trade.

What rubbish. Pubs are not closing down due to lack of social contract, but as an unintended consequence of government meddling. Huge estates of pubs are now owned by so-called ‘Pubco’s (as opposed to the Brewers themselves). Pubcos get the gullible in as new landlords, and ruin them over the ‘tie’ – they have to purchase all their drink from the same Pubco they rent the Public House (their business and indeed home) from, at prices that are hugely inflated over supermarket prices for the same items.

As a result, the pubs are not profitable concerns, and the current ‘Mine Host’ goes bust.

Not surprisingly, the high prices in a pub means people buy beer or wine in the supermarket and stay at home.

When I was a student, I would regularly go into a pub as part of an evening out. I cannot remember the last time I was in a pub. I spent five minutes after I wrote that, and still cannot remember when – it has become so infrequent and so rare. Probably, it was with the choir I sing in, and the reason I stopped going there was due to the barn of a place they choose to go, empty of atmosphere, as well as the pressure of work. Oh, I’ve just remembered, I even put it in this blog – the day of Aunt’s funeral, we went to the pub she frequented (for food) for our lunch after the service. More than two years ago, and not for alcohol.

The consequence of this is that pubs are closing down, there are not so many gullible people left, so they remain empty. Then, sadly, they are demolished, or converted into housing or other commerical property. I say sadly, but a Pubco is in fact a huge estate management company, and a pub a loss-making enterprise, whereas developing the building (or the site) for housing or supermarkets or whatever is far more profitable short and long term. There is just the small difficulty of change of use to get around, and if the building can no longer function as a pub, who will complain about a change of use?

Or am I just a cynic?

Let’s look at some evidence. I do not mention the town for these pubs, but most are within a five mile radius of one point, the first is beyond that point, but relivent.

The ‘Duke of Wellington’, is having a week-end closing party, this weekend. I know this because I drove past it this afternoon. And the signs don’t suggest the end of tenure of Mine Host (what is normally considered the Landlord, but I have not used that term due to confusion over leases, freehold, etc), but the ‘last ever’ party. As if the fate of the building is already sealed (but I have no information on this).

(added later) The now closed and boarded-up 'Duke of Wellington'. Who knows what will happen to this building now.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the road to the 'Duke', this pub has been closed and boarded up for some time - perhaps over a year now?

The ‘Green Man’. Recently demolished in favour of a Supermarket ‘Tiny’ branch, after a couple of failed attempts to keep it going. To modern eyes, there are still far too many pubs in this ‘village’, often within a stone’s throw of each-other (the Cherry Tree, within a stone’s throw, currently survives). There is also ‘Green Dragon’, ‘Stag’, and perhaps one other still in that village.

‘The Bell’, is up for lease; meanwhile there is a plethera of pubs around the eponimus Green of the nearby village may survive on townies going out for an evening.

The ‘George V’, the ‘Golden Fleece’, and countless others – signs up looking for people wanting to run a pub (aka ‘Mugs’), now being the time, the signs suggest to sink [your] redundancy pay into this sucessful enterprise (sic).

'George V' is still trading, but Mine Host clearly wants out...

The ‘Halfway House’, within a stone’s throw of ‘George V’, now demolished and redeveloped as a block of flats. In a last ditch attempt to survive, they had ‘exotic’ dancers all day. It gets as desperate as that.

I could go on, it gets so depressing. But what am I doing, writing this on a Saturday Night. Well, of course, no attraction to go to any of the surviving local pubs (awful places), which, in any case are quite a walk away (not sure why the nearest is so far away, I’m not aware of this being Quaker land, or other reason for a conventant that prevented pubs in this area).

(Mote added March 5th). Photos taken in the past few days as I have passed the buildings. There are plenty of other examples, it may be that it was not convenient to take a photo, or…

Some Public Houses survive by becoming restaurants, only open weekends, high days and holidays. Generally these are in the country, with no local population around them, so must survive on either the ‘passing trade’ or those who drive out specifially for such a visit.

It is already happening, but I forsee far fewer ‘Public Houses’ in future, and those that do survive will be unrecognisable to anyone sprited from (say) the 1970s to now. One change I am grateful for, though, is the smoking ban.