Chichester Harbour restaurants

[maby]

Yes the Boathouse at Chi is worth a look but dont forget they also serve food at the CYC but you might have to check timings. ...

My experience of CYC is that they are sometimes quite sniffy about admiting visitors. We went to have a look at the club a few months ago with a view to possibly staying for supper to test the restaurant but when they realised that we kept our boat permanently in the adjoining marina, they informed us that we would not qualify as visitors and could not eat there until we had become members.

 

[Lucky Duck]

My club has a similar policy that boat owners permanently based at the nearby (commercial) marina aren't considered as visiting yachtsmen/women and would be expected to join instead.

I can think of at least one other club where the same applies

 

[dom]

My experience of CYC is that they are sometimes quite sniffy about admiting visitors. We went to have a look at the club a few months ago with a view to possibly staying for supper to test the restaurant but when they realised that we kept our boat permanently in the adjoining marina, they informed us that we would not qualify as visitors and could not eat there until we had become members.

Sounds a bit old school Basil Faulty genre; you took the interest in the club, to include testing the restaurant, and they told you to get lost

Puts another complexion on clubs, some of which will no doubt be soon wittering about dwindling revenues as the impending recession bites.

 

[DJE]

My club has a similar policy that boat owners permanently based at the nearby (commercial) marina aren't considered as visiting yachtsmen/women and would be expected to join instead.

I can think of at least one other club where the same applies

I don't really see the point of that if they have the normal rule that visitors may only visit a limited number of times per year.

 

[lw395]

My club has a similar policy that boat owners permanently based at the nearby (commercial) marina aren't considered as visiting yachtsmen/women and would be expected to join instead.

I can think of at least one other club where the same applies

It's possibly license related.
Or a matter of giving value to members.
If you pay a significant membership fee, you don't expect the place to be bustling with the general public.
You soon get to the point where people realise they can get most of the value with none of the sub.

 

[ashtead]

I have visited CYC in the past but having travelled from Portsmouth maybe we were acceptable. The usual problem at the Boathouse and other on site eateries at say Gosport marina or Haslar is that they are so keen to fill up with non marine visitors that space is often in short supply .

 

[Lucky Duck]

Sounds a bit old school Basil Faulty genre; you took the interest in the club, to include testing the restaurant, and they told you to get lost

Puts another complexion on clubs, some of which will no doubt be soon wittering about dwindling revenues as the impending recession bites.

It may be part of conditions the club's license and in any event their membership contribute to the upkeep of the club's facilities via thier subscriptions so it wouldn't be fair on them if anyone from the thousand odd boats in the vicinity could use them at any time of thier choosing without joining the club as well.

 

[Lucky Duck]

I have visited CYC in the past but having travelled from Portsmouth maybe we were acceptable. The usual problem at the Boathouse and other on site eateries at say Gosport marina or Haslar is that they are so keen to fill up with non marine visitors that space is often in short supply .

Had no problems as visitor at CYC having arrived on our own keel from the sunny climes of Gosport.

From our last visit to the Boathouse we got the impression they were becoming more geared to daytime visitors rather than those there for supper.

 

[dom]

It may be part of conditions the club's license and in any event their membership contribute to the upkeep of the club's facilities via thier subscriptions so it wouldn't be fair on them if anyone from the thousand odd boats in the vicinity could use them at any time of thier choosing without joining the club as well.

Afraid this licence angle may be a bit of a red herring; hard to think of a licencing law disbarring the sale of alcohol to Chichester based sailors but not Pompey ones.

Re facilities, sure, the club can do what it likes: members only, member discounts, members only on say Fri/Sat, whatever it likes really. Not inherently unfair though to allow lots of outsiders; the restaurant/bar may after all be turning a tidy profit!

 

[Lucky Duck]

Don't just take my word for it;

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?522697-Why-is-Woolverstone-Marina-so-expensive&p=6829628#post6829628

 

[dom]

Don't just take my word for it;

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...one-Marina-so-expensive&p=6829628#post6829628

I’m sorry, I still don’t get the relevance to licensing which still seems a red herring to me. An elective decision re how to define visiting yachtsmen - only enforceable if people are honest - is of course a matter entirely for the club.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

What happens if a gourmet accidentally ingests ordinary food? Is it terrible?

And what if he tears the OP’s galley apart screaming and shouting like Gordon Ramsay?

Perhaps the Coastguard could high line in Michele Roux with his pots and pans in the event of an emergency?

I think it's the wafer thin mint that does for them...

 

[Seajet]

Tow him behind in the tender and pass him pot noodles - my Dad is far from a gourmet but I'll never forget his face when we were low on stores and he tried one...

 

[lw395]

Afraid this licence angle may be a bit of a red herring; hard to think of a licencing law disbarring the sale of alcohol to Chichester based sailors but not Pompey ones.

Re facilities, sure, the club can do what it likes: members only, member discounts, members only on say Fri/Sat, whatever it likes really. Not inherently unfair though to allow lots of outsiders; the restaurant/bar may after all be turning a tidy profit!

It may be out of date.
When I was more involved in a club, we could treat 'visiting yachts' as temporary members.
Also members of other RYA clubs.
Most members' clubs have to be pretty careful about serving the general public.

I think if your boat is based in the marina next door, if you want to use the club, you should join, in general.
That is how clubs work.
If a marina pub was a good idea, the marina would have one.

 

[dom]

It may be out of date.
When I was more involved in a club, we could treat 'visiting yachts' as temporary members.
Also members of other RYA clubs.
Most members' clubs have to be pretty careful about serving the general public.

I think if your boat is based in the marina next door, if you want to use the club, you should join, in general.
That is how clubs work.
If a marina pub was a good idea, the marina would have one.

You're right about visiting yachtsmen being treated as temporary members; I'm simply pointing out that this provides no basis for distinguishing between infrequent visitors from adjacent harbours.

Re facilities; entirely up to the club. I recall arriving late at a seriously fancy Club in Maine, a far cry from my tuppence halfpenny dinghy club in Ireland!

Without anything close to the fancy attire of the bar and restaurant, we asked if there was anywhere close by to eat. They wouldn't hear of it. Great night, great people, and when we asked for the bill (ticket as they call it), "Oh no; only members can pay here !!"

 

[ashtead]

As some may know a solution to the conundrum which seems to be perplexing earlier respondees is for a members rate to be offered. I had thought this was standard and that members rates apply at the bar etc. This enables all to partake on basis the belong to a suitable RYA club and can observe the type of club but allows members to gain a benefit from their subs beyond lectures and mooorings at cheap rates. I agree serving general public is a bad idea not least because honest visiting yachtsman to CYC for example cannot then find a suitable place to dine as the Boathouse or equivalent has no space .

 

[maby]

...

I think if your boat is based in the marina next door, if you want to use the club, you should join, in general.
That is how clubs work.
....

This was triggered by my post and please don't get me wrong - I was not arguing that people with boats in the "marina next door" should be able to use the yacht club facilities on any kind of regular basis without becoming members. I was simply surprised when we popped into the club in question to have a look around with a view to possibly joining and being quite honest about out status as berth holders in the adjacent marina - the club official we spoke to made it quite clear that we would not be welcome to test the restaurant before becoming members.

 

[maby]

As some may know a solution to the conundrum which seems to be perplexing earlier respondees is for a members rate to be offered. I had thought this was standard and that members rates apply at the bar etc. This enables all to partake on basis the belong to a suitable RYA club and can observe the type of club but allows members to gain a benefit from their subs beyond lectures and mooorings at cheap rates. I agree serving general public is a bad idea not least because honest visiting yachtsman to CYC for example cannot then find a suitable place to dine as the Boathouse or equivalent has no space .

I think that the problem with suggestions like this - as with the alternative of some form of "social level" membership at a reduced rate which does not grant access to the sailing facilities of the club - is that there is a real risk that it would have the effect of reducing the club cash flow rather than increasing it. Yacht Club membership fees around our part of the world are of the order of £300 to £500 per year - and I suspect that a significant part of the membership are making little use of the sailing facilities. If those members were to drop out and accept that they have to pay a non-member's premium on bar and restaurant prices, that premium would have to be pretty high to cover the lost membership fees. It is a question of the balance between the loss of income from existing members taking the option of reduced or zero membership fees vs. the increase of income from new people coming into the club and spending their money there.

 

[Seajet]

CYC has changed a lot since the more casual times of my youth when I placed my Scorpion dinghy there to do the winter Snowflake series - but I do agree people in the marina ought to join if they want to use the facilities.

I won't say where as I don't want you lot overcrowding it, but last year a chum and I visited a little used place - the pub had shut early and the club was only doing food for a special party; on hearing our plight ( we had food onboard ) they made us meals specially, wouldn't take a penny, made sure we had the code for the showers etc next morning and couldn't have been more welcoming, this does still happen in the Solent, please note ye disparaging Scottish types !

 

[jhr]

By coincidence, the Garudian has just covered Chichester in its "Let's move to ...." series. It has this to say about local restaurants:

There is room for improvement in its eating scene. Most of the pulls round here are out of town (the Earl of March and the Royal Oak in the Lavants, Cassons in Tangmere or the Richmond Arms in West Ashling).

Taxi!

I've eaten at the Millstream Hotel in Bosham which was nice, if it's still there. Also, Keith Richards has a place in West Wittering, where it is alleged that they used to serve a most unusual dish featuring a Mars Bar <smirk>.