Category Archives: Schooner

Work

After a 12 hour day in the (new) pub, I went to work in the Schooner for another 4 hours.

Back in the new place in five hours.

Rust removal

Sanding and Kurust and Waxoyl happened today.

We finally made time to tackle the steps and wheel arches. Everything’s sanded and treated, ready for priming (when there’s time).

However, the pub has once more taken over my life. Still, was nice to stop off at the pub for a (not so) quick one.

10

If I had to give simple, logical reasons for not completely breaking ties with the Schooner, I’m not confident That I could.

But I’ve decided to keep a small share (10%). Plans for a micropub are unchanged, so I’ll focus on that when we make progress in that direction.

Much agonising was involved, but right now I think it’s a good decision.

15 months

I wouldn’t have thought it possible to pack so much into 15 months. 15 months ago, that is.

My time in the Schooner has been incredible. So much stress in the early days, but so much fun too. The hours/days/weeks were long, but the experience was like nothing I’d known before. I don’t regret it for a second; I’ve learned so much.

A huge thanks to my former partners. We went into this as friends and came out the same. No, we’re more than friends after everything we’ve been through.

I’m now going to do some work on our long neglected house, while researching the next venture.

I could never have imagined that retirement could be so crazy.

The Schooner

Well, I’ve just two more days as a part owner of the Schooner.

I’d not planned on getting into the pub business; it wasn’t a spur of the moment thing, but it wasn’t too far away from that.

I don’t regret my time with the pub, even though the early days were tough. I’ve become part of the fabric of the place and I’ll give up my time to help whenever and if ever I’m needed. I want the pub to succeed and I’m sure it will.

I’ve learned so much in such a short time; from Paul (basically everything) and Phil (everything to do with ale) in terms of managing a pub, but from Stew and Steve in running the bar (and top level customer service). And the rest of the team (too many to mention); I’ll miss them all.

The pub had inherited the second best bar in Gateshead strapline, but it’s easily the best.

I might be leaving, but a piece of me will be in the Schooner forever. I’ve so many life changing memories.

It’s a fantastic pub, with a lovely bunch of people. I shall be a loyal customer when COVID-19 regulations allow such things.

Meanwhile, I’ve work to do in the house and a new venture to plan.

So many memories, but here’s a handful.

The Hillbilly Moon Explosion

I’ve always loved making new listening discoveries; there’s nothing better than being overwhelmed by great new music.

Recently, a really nice bloke introduced me to the Hillbilly Moon Explosion. And they’ve since been in my head pretty much non-stop.

Fortunately, I have a large degree of control of Spotify in the pub, so they’re on repeat through the day – at least until one of my colleagues notices.

A good track to start with is My love for evermore (both versions are great).

Today, to vary things a bit, I had around three hours of Prokofiev. Then, when Paul complained, I switched to the Hillbilly Moon Explosion. On repeat, of course. Several hours later, Phil noticed and put some other stuff on.

Pizza

A conversation at work last night somehow ended in the proposal to make a pizza for the dog.

I’d never previously seen her eat so much, so quickly, before. She ate half and would have consumed more had we not removed the other half.

An earlier meal yesterday involved grass.

Bar staff

While the pub can’t open due to the current Covid-19 situation, it’s important that we prepare for our eventual reopening.

Our new barperson in training.

Covid-19

Well, I didn’t expect the pub trade to be easy. We came in at a bad time. We did know that buying-in to a summer pub in the autumn probably wasn’t the best idea, but we also knew that we only needed to get through the winter, before business would pick up.

The winter was probably harder than we’d expected, but we did get through it. But now, there’s Coronavirus. At first, the impact on business was slow, with no change in business. This week began with a busier than usual Monday and Tuesday, following a pretty decent week. But, then, Wednesday happened. The pub was empty during the day, with just a handful of customers coming to eat. The teatime regulars were there as usual, but daytime trade just dropped right off. Yesterday, usually a busy day, was the same. I wasn’t there last night, but the signs of a really poor night were there.

We’re now approaching the weekend; actually, Friday is usually a good extension of the weekend. If business continues at this rate, and the weekend is a failure, we’re really going to struggle and some hard decisions are going to have to be made.

The Government have announced grants, and we will qualify for one, but there’s no information as to how these can be claimed. Apparently, this is coming next week. However, with the assumption that any money would come through mid-April, that leaves a pretty big gap if we’re losing money every day and still need to pay staff and buy stock.

Right now, there’s not a lot we can do. Let’s see how the weekend goes.