I have been advised that the planning application to demolish this pub has been withdrawn. Thanks must go to Town Councillor David Allen, West Berkshire CAMRA and everyone who campaigned against this deplorable scheme.
Let's hope that this is the last we will hear from this particular bunch of property developers.
So, I guess the pub has been there a while, anybody know the history. The sign outside shows that the blue ball is part of a race horse owners colours. What's that about or conversley, is it something that happens in winter.
I have been advised that the planning application to demolish this pub has been withdrawn. Thanks must go to Town Councillor David Allen, West Berkshire CAMRA and everyone who campaigned against this deplorable scheme.
Let's hope that this is the last we will hear from this particular bunch of property developers.
I understand your support for the pub, but if any bussiness is not profitable then it cannot continue. The overheads are crippling this and many others and unless help is offered to reduce rates etc from the local councils many more will go under. The planning application may have been withdrawn at present but will return soon
I understand your support for the pub, but if any bussiness is not profitable then it cannot continue. The overheads are crippling this and many others and unless help is offered to reduce rates etc from the local councils many more will go under. The planning application may have been withdrawn at present but will return soon
But the pub is profitable - the landlord is leading the campaign to save it. The issue is not that the business cannot survive but that the owners see a larger profit in developing the site than leasing it as a pub.
STEP 1......Knock down a pub...........STEP 2.......build houses/flats for more people......STEP 3......EXPLAIN to people why they have not got enough pubs.
So, I guess the pub has been there a while, anybody know the history. The sign outside shows that the blue ball is part of a race horse owners colours. What's that about or conversley, is it something that happens in winter.
My memory may be at fault here, but I seem to recall that the disc (as it is described in the context of racing colours) was among some additional patterns devised to increase the range of colours available. This was perhaps in the 1980s? not all that long ago anyway. So it's unlikely to be a reference to a long-established owner. Just an imaginative interpretation - although not perhaps as imaginative as your latter suggestion.
Do you have anything worthwhile to say, other than your customary rudeness?
What other reason is there for pubs going to the wall, other than people are not using them? Some seem quite busy, but many others remain almost empty most of the time.
I can sympathise with people who live next to a pub they don't use, it can be very noisy sometimes, full of the most vulgar language. Especially now people do a lot more standing outside smoking.
I know what we don't have enough of though, affordable housing.
What other reason is there for pubs going to the wall, other than people are not using them? Some seem quite busy, but many others remain almost empty most of the time.
I can sympathise with people who live next to a pub they don't use, it can be very noisy sometimes, full of the most vulgar language. Especially now people do a lot more standing outside smoking.
I know what we don't have enough of though, affordable housing.
There can be other reasons for businesses to go to the wall but it doesn't sound like it's the case for this particular pub. I imagine for pubs, in general, cheap booze sold by greedy supermarkets, people not taking any chances with drink driving and the smoking ban have knocked them for six. This means people aren't using them as they used to, in other words, as you said, we have more pubs than are needed.
I agree with your last comment too although the pub was there long before most of the houses.
What is all this affordable housing crap! Oh don't worry though If you can't afford one the Government will look after you! In my younger days it was not like that we had no help, we had to save, borrow or get an extra job if we wanted our own house..Now people want things for nowt! Well for christ sake lets not give it to them..let them work for the luxeries as we had to. My wife and I ran two football teams and washed the kit each week..not in a washing machine as we didn't have one until we had been married for 5years..No.. in the bloody bath.. You can put the hanky away now..goodnight!
I wrote AFFORDABLE, not social (although it covers both)...house prices have gone out of reach in the last 10 years. Never mind, when the low paid can't afford to live in Newbury, you can go empty you own bins and fix your own broken leg, etc...
Every time a local closes for lack of customers and hence profitability, the locals are the first to believe that they have some divine right to keep said place open even if some poor sod is going deeper and deeper into debt.
I have a solution. Every household within a prescribed distance of the pub, let's say a mile, pays to the pub fund £1:50 per week. This money will be available to be refunded against purchases over the bar (not food) but must be spent before the last day of the calendar month. Money not reclaimed is forfeited and goes to the pub for anything that a decent landlord would provide and the pub stays open..........
That's the other issue, landlords, they barely exist theses days. The majority are managed, and put it this way, they don't get paid much for what they do. Like one 'successful' ex-manager said to me recently, 'There's no fiddles any more to make it worth while.'
I wrote AFFORDABLE, not social (although it covers both)...house prices have gone out of reach in the last 10 years. Never mind, when the low paid can't afford to live in Newbury, you can go empty you own bins and fix your own broken leg, etc...
I'm afraid it is all relative...The average weekly income now is almost equal to a months mortguage..exactly as it was in my youth!
At the start of the decade-long property boom in 1997, the average homebuyer mortgage was just over three times average earnings, at £60,000. That hit almost seven times average earnings in 2007/8, at £160,000. After a brief dip, it now stands at just over five-and-a-half times average wages, at £140,000.
Anyway, this ain't the point, regrettably, I suggest we need houses more than we need empty pubs.
At the start of the decade-long property boom in 1997, the average homebuyer mortgage was just over three times average earnings, at £60,000. That hit almost seven times average earnings in 2007/8, at £160,000. After a brief dip, it now stands at just over five-and-a-half times average wages, at £140,000.
The graph is about the size of mortgage - not the cost of mortgages. Low interest rates means that larger mortgages are affordable - as long as the interest rates remain low.
The graph is about the size of mortgage - not the cost of mortgages. Low interest rates means that larger mortgages are affordable - as long as the interest rates remain low.
I don't have time to check, as it deviates from my point anyway, but I wouldn't mind betting the average mortgage tends to follow average price house. Newbury is higher than normal.
In the case of the Blue Ball it is not an empty pub, it's a viable local business that Punch wants to demolish for the sake of profit.
Pubs which spends most of of the time virtually empty. The days of the 'local' pubs, in most cases, are knackered. Their value to the community is way over stated, and I say this with regret.
And my point was that the Blue Ball is trading profitably, it is not an empty pub struggling to survive. Sure there will be times when it has few customers, but that doesn't mean it is dying for lack of trade. As you point out these are difficult time for local pubs - so why get rid of one that is bucking the trend and is doing well? All for the sake of a few more houses which certainly won't fall into the 'affordable' category.
And my point was that the Blue Ball is trading profitably, it is not an empty pub struggling to survive.
It might be trading profitably, but I think we all know the breweries grind their managers into the ground and short of a conglomerate buy-out, this is just going to roll on and on, until it caves in.
There is a number of reason pubs are dying, but for sure, their status as a social asset is very questionable.
Gone are the days a pub could rely on their locals to keep the pub going from Sunday night to Wednesday, then welcome others for the rest of the week.
People don't need pubs like they used to.
For The Blue Ball to stand a chance, it would have to do food (well) and kick some of the sh*t out. Sadly it is some of the sh*t that keeps the quiet days from being empty.
Sure there will be times when it has few customers, but that doesn't mean it is dying for lack of trade. As you point out these are difficult time for local pubs - so why get rid of one that is bucking the trend and is doing well? All for the sake of a few more houses which certainly won't fall into the 'affordable' category.
Well for affordable, if what you infer is true, that would depend on whether the occupants vacate an affordable dwelling to occupy them; there are two ways to increase the amount of affordable homes.
If The Blue Ball did a trade like I remember it in the 80s, their would be no question of it turning into flats, but it seems that isn't the case these days.
Like I said, I'd rather things were different, but I think we need to return to the OP: Is The Blue Ball an irreplaceable social asset?
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