Category Archives: Microbus

Minor changes

We made some small changes in the bar the other day. It was a lot of work though, meaning we had to close for the day.

We’ve had some decent feedback over the last couple of days, so it was worth the effort.

Garden

I’ve spent a nice afternoon in the garden, painting and tidying up.

In the three years of the bar, with a couple of years beforehand at the Schooner, I’d not spent much time in what is actually a great little garden.

The next job, delayed from a time when I had a proper job, will be to fit a stove in the old shed at the top of the garden.

At the rate I’m going, I should get round to that next year.

When

When you know your time has passed.

When you had a 40 year career and played it safe, even though the last decade and a bit was pretty exciting.

When you embarked on something new (after a brief something new that didn’t work out).

And then found/made something pretty cool. But, then you’re too old to take it to its full potential.

It’s a bit shit really. And good at the same time.

I’m probably good for a couple of years, so let’s see where this goes.

Birthdays

Most people know I don’t bother with birthdays. I haven’t done in decades.

But, with my birthday falling on a Monday this year (and the fact I’ve worked the past two years on this date), I really wanted to have a day somewhere with the dog.

So, I made plans for next Monday. I was really looking forward to it.

And then my beloved broke her wrist.

I might reschedule. Back to 70 hour weeks for a bit then.

Whitby

I’ve been a CAMRA member for a few years now, since before I became involved in bars, but I’d never taken part in activities or excursions.

Working in the current bar has changed that; a lot of guys who’re members come into the bar and we know a lot of them by name.

When an email popped up, mentioning a trip to Whitby, we agreed a team Microbus outing. This happened on Saturday and we all had a great day. The trip was so well organised, but, after a visit to Whitby Brewery, there wasn’t an agenda. The opposite was the case, since some of the bars couldn’t accommodate everyone at the same time.

This was the first time all of us have have had a day out together since opening the bar – we’re all rarely in the same place at the same time.

We realised that we can do more to promote future events. We’ve some ideas. We’ll certainly take part in another.

Unexpected

So, our little bar has somehow been voted CAMRA Gateshead pub of the year.

We’d not expected this; there’d been a hope of coming in as runner up, but we couldn’t have imagined coming so far in our first year.

Our only real target was to make the 2024 Good Beer Guide; pub of the year wan’t really on our radar.