Ferry Boat, Fambridge

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Bru

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I have no details but I can confirm that as of the 26th of this month the Ferry Boat at North Fambridge will be closed until further notice pending somebody taking on the lease

There are rumours and more rumours but that's all I know for a fact
 
Bru said:
I have no details but I can confirm that as of the 26th of this month the Ferry Boat at North Fambridge will be closed until further notice pending somebody taking on the lease

There are rumours and more rumours but that's all I know for a fact
Click to expand...

I thought 'Yacht haven Group' were the leaseholders? Doesn't seem to make much sense to close

Sorry, just seen the other thread
 
Last edited:
No, Yacht Havens own the freehold

I now know the full story from the horses' mouth as it were

The pub is closing temporally e current leaseholder is relinquishing the lease at the end of the month for family reasons etc.

It should be open again under new management by Easter

I know rather more than that but that's al; I can say on a public forum!
 
I am not too sad it is changing.
The new landlord has taken the soul out the place. The staff are now wearing hotel style shirts. All the ephemera that gave it an atmosphere has been cleared out. It is trying to be a restaurant but the food was more like a transport cafe. I had a carbonara and it was awful.

And he kept closing when they said they were open. We were looking for a pint when in Burnham but decided not to try the Ferry because the previous time they were shut.
 
Tomahawk said:
The staff are now wearing hotel style shirts. All the ephemera that gave it an atmosphere has been cleared out.
Click to expand...

What a shame. I hate it when pubs put their staff in 'uniform'. No doubt one of them has a very large bunch of keys and is authorised to use the photocopier.
 
Circumstances prevent me from saying everything I would like to say but within some significant constraints I can't ignore this altogether ...

Tomahawk said:
I am not too sad it is changing. .
Click to expand...

Some changes I can live with. Some changes will have me eating and drinking on board rather than in the pub (go figure, that's all I'm sayin)

Tomahawk said:
The new landlord has taken the soul out the place. The staff are now wearing hotel style shirts..
Click to expand...

Hmm. Well they wear a staff uniform but that's par for the course. I don't have a problem with that

Tomahawk said:
All the ephemera that gave it an atmosphere has been cleared out.
Click to expand...

Eh? No it hasn't! Very little, if anything, has changed in the bar area at all and all the tat is definitely still there! (Or was as of last weekend, whether it will survive the next few months is another matter entirely)

Tomahawk said:
It is trying to be a restaurant
Click to expand...

It has to to survive. Even town centre pubs cannot survive on the "wet" trade these days, pubs either become a popular eating out destination or they go under

As of 2016, CAMRA estimated that between 21 and 29 pubs were closing every week. Even allowing for some exaggeration, it's certainly hundreds a year nationwide and probably in excess of a thousand.

I'm afraid the harsh reality is that the otherwise beneficial measures of banning smoking in public and making drink driving no longer socially acceptable have to all intents and purposes destroyed the traditional pub

People don't stay after their meal now, for the most part. They turn up, have a drink, eat their meal, perhaps having a second drink, and then they're gone

I've lost count of the number of times I've been one of just a handful of customers, or even on occasions the only customer, left in the pub by not much after nine-o-clock on a Friday or Saturday night! Time was, not so very long ago, when the landlord had a job getting the heaving sweaty beer swilling masses to bugger off home well after closing time. Nowadays, the poor sod is hoping they'll sling their hook early and not buy another pint (on which he'll at best break even and probably make a loss) so he can let the staff go home and close up early 'cos he's losing money with every passing minute once the kitchen has stopped serving

Tomahawk said:
Ibut the food was more like a transport cafe. I had a carbonara and it was awful.
Click to expand...

Ah well, the carbonara has always been awful there, through several different chefs. For some reason, going back to well before the current management took over the place, there is a peculiar "Ferry Boat" method of making something that purports to be carbonara but isn't!

That particular dish aside, the food under the soon to be departed management has varied from acceptable to pretty decent and even, for a brief period, very good indeed whilst remaining on the acceptable side of the line price wise (and I've eaten a LOT of meals in the place over the last few years, especially the last couple of years. I've only had one unacceptable meal in all that time, which went back and I didn't pay for)

Therein lies one of the problems with the place. There aren't enough covers to make enough money to pay enough for a top flight chef and keeping a really good cook in the kitchen has proved impossible - they get head hunted

Tomahawk said:
And he kept closing when they said they were open. We were looking for a pint when in Burnham but decided not to try the Ferry because the previous time they were shut.
Click to expand...

Yes, that became a growing annoyance for a while although a stop was put to it and it hasn't been a problem for some months (despite the tenants desire to vacate the lease). It was down to staffing problems (i.e. actually finding people who would work the hours pub work involves) leading to staff being paid overtime to sit around twiddling their thumbs with few if any customers which, understandably given that the place was losing money already, wasn't something the management were terribly keen on

I'm not going to claim the the departing tenants have done everything right but, knowing as much as I now know about the situation, I think they've done as much as they realistically could. Of one thing I am certain, I totally understand their unwillingness to sink a six figure sum (for that is what it will cost to make the place potentially viable) into a property they do not own.

I fear the future is potentially bleak <edited as again that's as much as I can say hereabouts>
 
I crawled out of my pit about nine-o-clock. Took one look at the world and crawled back into it again after swallowing half a packet of Anadin Extra!

I'm getting too old for this shit!
 
I have only been twice for a swift one.
Cold Heineken and fosters for lager.
I couldn't say about the real ales.
I believe it is being managed by the couple who are running the club house on the marina.
If this helps
 
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