The reason for this is that we have had a problem for several years in that we have been victims of our own success. The cellar in the pub is of about 28 square metres and even in the quiet times of the year we often had beer stacked up two barrels high. Whereas during high volume events like the carnival and beer festival it required crampons and ropes to reach the far end. Some of this was caused by foot high thralls along each side. These are great when you only sell a couple of real ales, in small containers as they are at a good height to work at, however when you have kilderkins, 22g kegs  and double stacked firkins and kegs to load up on them the height is a bit tiring.

So we now have a bit more room in the cellar. This should help us be more prepared for aberrant days when everyone moves over onto one item,  allowing us to have more stock means we should run out of beer less frequently.

Additionally the cellar has been very prone to flooding, this is caused not only by rain water and automatic watering coming off the street, this has been aggravated by inadequate drainage, and that years of draymen throwing barrels down in to the cellar have damaged the concrete allowing pooling and the sump pump to sometimes try to put concrete fragments into the drains.

The third problem was the slamming flap that went up to the kitchen, this has had a weight system attached to it to arrest any rapid fall, normally we’ve been safe with this, but visitors have to be chaperoned

The fourth problem was protecting the concrete and this has been sorted with a wooden frame and a brand new mat, drainage is below to prevent this pad becoming a heavy squelchy mess that cannot be moved and squirts dirty water at us.

Fifthly I have been spending all this money to cool the cellar and the floorboards of the bar this has been resolved by insulation and a washable ceiling allowing us to wash down the ceiling when an overexcited barrel of Clun Pale Ale empties a pint of beer on to the roof.

Finally the steps have always been a bit slippery so the last job will be to put anti slip matting on the steps.

Now all we’ve got to do is paint it annually and keep it tidy.

My eye surveys this place I’ve found

Amidst the rolling Shropshire hills

Such peace, this place my heart it stills

Within the sound of St Georges bell

I know this is where I long to dwell

The beautiful scenery and fresh air

It’s a bit of Heaven I’ve found there

Then there it stands the White horse Inn

The sound of laughter draws you in

From Jacks Clun ale, the blues and fine fare

You will always find a welcome there

Then Saturday night dealt a cruel blow

My lottery numbers refused to show

No lottery wins to let us stay

But I know I will dwell there one day.

Dave Hyde

October and November have seen a raft of fundraising from the team at the White Horse Inn.  Total amounts raised have been Dare to Wear it Pink £126.77. BBC Children in Need where Katie, Georgia and Liz’s cakes made roughly £130 with the added 10p to each drink bringing our total raised to £218.46. Both great efforts! Thank you very much to all that came along and helped us.

Also in November we had the Poppy Appeal in which we only made £40.61, I take some responsibility for this as I didn’t lose as many as I usually do, however I will do my best to make amends next year.

Also just in case you are interested Matt and I, still wear stupid things on our top lips, should anyone like to come in and make a donation for Movember in aid of prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.

a) Forgetful

b) Stressed because of the impending Beer Festival

c) Even more stressed by the HSBC card machine that had broken down the morning of the busiest weekend of the year.

For all this I apologise greatly.  However, today I received the request from MacMlllan for the money raised. I have decided to donate £100 to MacMillan from the pub. I know this is nothing like the £634.32 raised last year or the £421.20 we raised in 2009, but it is something and I wouldn’t like them to receive no money at all.

Again I apologise and hope that I can do better next year.

Pictured are Matt Bird and Beckie Sexton, who will be wearing these costumes on the night.

Link to Wear it Pink Website http://www.wearitpink.co.uk/default.aspx?gclid=CNbsoafxhawCFYEZ4QodwFHORg

GWYNT Y DDRAIG – “BLACK DRAGON” 7% £2.80

This special reserve cider has been hand crafted exclusively from cider apples grown by traditional methods in ageing orchards. The juice pressed from these apples is fermented and matured in oak barrels to produce a cider rich in colour, body and flavour with a fresh fruity aroma.

SANFORD ORCHARD – “DEVON SCRUMPY” 6% £2.90

Slightly cloudy and very full flavoured. Full of apple flavours with a pleasant bite and finish, fermented straight from fresh apple juice with wild yeasts.

WESTCROFTS – “JANET’S JUNGLE JUICE” 6.5% £2.90

Produced by cider maker John Harris in Somerset, Janet’s Jungle Juice is a firm favourite with customers. When you try it you will see why it was the CAMRA national award winner in 2008. This medium dry cider is well rounded and fruity with a deep texture and flavour. It is a fantastic starting point for inexperienced cider drinkers as it is so very easy drinking.

GWATKINS – “YARLINGTON MILL” 7.5% £3.00

The Yarlington Mill apple is a favourite with traditional cider makers because of its outstanding taste. It originates from deepest Somerset but is found growing throughout the cider maker’s kingdom. The well sized apples, which are red and yellow in colour, are ready to harvest in late November. The juice is slow to ferment, which produces a rich, red, medium cider

NEWTON COURT – “MEDIUM” 6.5% £2.80

Lovely cloudy orange colour. Big tarty apples. This is a very satisfying warm rosy cider, with loads of flavour

HECKS – “KINGSTON BLACK” 6% £2.80

Established in 1896 Heck’s are very much a family firm, making over 20 differing ciders and perrys. They are expert in the production of single varieties with some bold and distinguished flavours. Heck’s Kingston Black has a crisp, dry finish and a great taste which creates a very distinctive cider.

WESTONS – “COUNTRY PERRY” 5% £2.90

Still medium Perry fully matured in old oak vats to develop its strength and traditional character.

WESTONS – “FIRST QUALITY” 4.5% £2.90

A traditional still draught cider filtered to be clear. Medium with a fresh apple finish.

All ciders avalable while stocks last for the Cider Festival on the weekend of the 15th-17th July

Well I’ve just seen some of the hugest rises I ever have in ten years in the White Horse.  It’s always been a 5p or 10p rise. I’ve usually priced to the 10p and lost some of the time and gained the rest. This year it’s bloody stupid. Carling -I add with no extra cash in my hand- has had to go up 15p.  Strongbow should have gone up 20p, I swapped supplier and made it 15p a pint, watching every invoice for their price rise.  Guinness up 25p, a special offer at TBS until St Patricks day means I can phase the increase and just put it up just 5p now. Sorry, we might have to move back to Guinness glassware.

Fortunately I’m not loaded with debt and so can take some of these rises, and the lost trade due to less sales.  Anyone just starting out or in a rented pub has just taken a big blow amidships though.

On the good side our supermarkets are rattling round in the punters favour. Tesco Carling £15.00, Sainsburys Carling  £18.38p, Booker where I can get mine from £21.59 so obviously the VAT rise hasn’t effected the trusty supermarket, too much.  Didn’t they do the same before they killed off nearly all the bakers.

Surely the government or our MPs are going to rattle the sword for the pub trade a little bit. How about that lower rate of VAT for pubs idea put forward by the BII, it might help protect a vital part of our history, and a unique selling point for our tourism sector. Better still if you want to save the small community pubs, just give it to those with a trading space of under 150m2, this means HMRC would still get plenty of tax from the inner city circuit drinking dens. We all know the ones that on Saturday nights have the police camped outside.  Small backstreet boozers, and country ale taps would be helped, I can’t remember last time the dominos crowd needed police assistance or angels of mercy to pick them off the streets.

Either way they should support scrapping the Beer Duty escalator as in the British Beer and Pub Association proposal.

Probably not the way though, remember globalisation is good, lets pick our titan in the war against the little man. I’ll have Sainsburys ‘cos shares are up 4p this month, you have Tesco’ s. Who cares we’re all be winners in the great high street ram raid.

    today

Triple whammy could put 20p on a pint

17 February, 2011

By Matt Eley

Company hikes, VAT and duty all put pressure on pub prices

Pubs could be forced to put up the price of a pint by around 20p in the space of just three months due to a triple-whammy of factors. Major pub companies this week revealed hikes of between three and four per cent on drinks for tied licensees. The move follows the rise in VAT to 20 per cent in January – which has already led to an average of around 7p being added to a pint. And with the government expected to increase beer duty by two per cent above inflation – an overall hike of seven per cent – pubs could be forced to ask hard-up consumers to dig even deeper into their pockets. BII chief executive Neil Robertson said many operators would swallow the rise but others had no choice but to pass it on to customers.

“If there is 7p added from VAT, at least 10p from duty and another 8-10p from price increases it is a huge amount to be passing on to customers. “The bigger issue is that it widens the disparity between drinking at home and coming out and people will expect a better experience for their money.”

This week pubco giants Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns informed licensees their drinks prices would be going up by an average of 3.3 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively.

Both pointed to rising wholesale costs for the hike.

Greene King has also revealed an average price increase of 3.8 per cent on drinks. Marston’s has as yet not decided if it will increase prices to licensees.

Mark Reynolds is operations director for the five pub strong London group Renaissance, which has leases with both Punch and Enterprise. He said the company would swallow rises from the pubcos but could act after the Budget next month.

“We did a 10p rise with VAT and we will wait until after the Budget but could put on another 10p. We were talking about the £4 pint two years ago and we with some premium brands we will be getting close to £5,” he said. Meanwhile Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, has urged the government to ditch its duty escalator – a move that has been backed by CAMRA. She said: “With these inflation figures, and along with the VAT increase, the Chancellor is set to introduce the biggest ever rise in tax on beer in a single year.

“The government is creating a vicious circle of rising taxes causing further rises in inflation, which leads to yet more beer tax hikes in the future.” The Budget will take place on March 23.

Well I can’t say that I’m furious. I’m probably not really that surprised, we saw when similar legislation was kicked out in the Scottish parliament how difficult it is going to be for any government to introduce minimum pricing.

I see this as the government’s way of actually getting the item onto  the statute books. Sure it’s not going to make a much difference probably to any of the  supermarket chains. However, it is a start, it is there. The minimum price, I would guess could be put up at the whim of the Home Office. It  is highly possible that this will rise not just in line with the inevitable duty rises, and may start protecting the traditional pub against aggressive supermarket pricing.

However, why should we expect the government to stand up for the pub, we are just next in a line of local traders that the supermarkets have wiped out or hindered greatly since their rise. Bakers, butchers, greengrocers, grocers and milk men have all been affected and in many cases wiped from our high streets. While food producers are having their prices and practices put to the test to reduce produce costs and dairymen are forced to the wall, selling their herds. (Panorama). What did the government do to protect any of these business people? Correct, nothing! What makes anyone think that they will do anything for the pub trade.

Outside Bar Costs

Number Attending Event

Please note these prices are for the 2011 season, including the expected VAT rise to 20%, if the chancellor fails to put VAT to this amount or more these prices will increase accordingly.

e.g a bar is required from 4.00pm to 12.00am (8 hours) to which you have invited 140 people. The price on the table is £1,080.00. If the bar takes £1,100 including the cost of welcome and table drinks there will be no charge to you, however if the bar takes £1,030 we will charge you £50, so that we do not lose money. I am quite happy for you to be present with my staff for counting the till at the end of the event.

Note we have found that the majority of events at which the hirers buy table and welcome drinks from us and not a caterer have no fee levied upon them. For table wines we charge the same price as in Tanners Wines internet catalogue.