The thin end of the wedge ...

TBH you can't blame a publican for trying to get the maximum number of punters in.
These days, they are up against it what with the supermarkets selling beer at lower prices than the pubs can buy it.

Do agree about trying attract the punters in. However in our home town all the pubs have the TV with the football and mostly they are empty whilst pubs elsewhere that do good food and do not have a TV seem to attract more trade.
 
I fear that the new landlord is in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater

Its all very well attracting new customers but if, in the process, you alienate your existing clientele you end up, at best, no better off

Tonight there's no footie on and there's a constant food trade compared to last night when hardly anybody stuck around other than the footie fans. Which crowd brings in the dosh I wonder?
 
Can I recommend The Victory at West Mersea - They had a new landlord about 3 years ago, and it has been on the up and up ever since - and no TV. There is a good one at Burnham, just downstream from the White Hart (Which has gone downhill) sorry I can't remember its name
 
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Drinking in Burnham

While the beer is OK in the White Hart, the food has not been up to much for the past 20 years. The one just downriver is the Anchor, but it too often has deafening music which puts me off and again, food not great.

For a good pub with good food, walk a couple of hundred yards North from the quay into the High Street and find the Ship, an Adnams house, on the other side of the road.

Alternatively, if you've arrived by water go into one of the four clubs along the river front (from upriver end,: Burnham Sailing Club, Crouch Yacht Club, Royal Burnham Yacht Club and Royal Corinthian Yacht Club) and sign yourselves in as guests off the water. The beer is cheaper the food quite acceptable (weekend only in some clubs) and they will make you welcome.

Peter Wright
Wild Thyme
 
agree about the food in the Ship in Burnham but there's now a new Tapas bar in the High Street. food is brilliant, drinks inexpensive and overall thoroughly recommended. i'm just a local with no connections other than the fact i like the food.
 
Sorry Bob, but I must disagree

I'm also a Burnham local who spent some years living and working in Spain and I'm afraid to tell you that the fare served at the new 'Tapas' bar bears no relation to tapas served in Spain. I was sorely disappointed the first time I went there, just after they opened. I visited again several weeks later with Spanish friends who were staying and could not believe that anyone can get tapas wrong - I'm afraid we all came away disappointed.

So, if you want an anglicised impression of tapas and good beer, that bar is fine, but if you want to experience the delight of Spanish tapas with good Spanish wine, I would steer clear.

There used to be a good tapas bar in Chelmsford, but it shut down about 3 years ago. The only decent tapas bar I know in the UK is in Brighton, run, unsurprisingly, by a Spanish family.

Peter Wright
Wild Thyme
 
Had a meal last night..

It is good to observe that they are doing a nice job so far..
better slald, much cleaned up. better presentation
but not chaving the place
 
I'm not sure whether the tapas at Rio's is authentic - i do know that one of the chefs was straight from a bar in Corralejo. However I do know that it's cheap and the food is really enjoyable so I stand by my recommendation. Come to that I'm not sure how authentic the TexMex is at Sgt Peppers - never having been to Texas but the food's good. And never having been to India, the authenticity of the food at Spice Fusion is something I can't vouch for - but it does taste good!

As to the Ship, it's changed hands since Tony ran it and after a brief dalliance with 'posh' food, i'm told it's back to serving erally good pub grub at reasonable prices.

I do hate football on the tv but at the Ferryboat in Fambridge surely its quiet in the conservatory?
 
I do hate football on the tv but at the Ferryboat in Fambridge surely its quiet in the conservatory?

Not really ... that's where the telly is :D

To be fair, I started this thread way back early in the season and in fact to date the TV has not been on when we've been in since

Oh and as Tomahawk already mentioned, the food, which was already good, is now very good
 
Afraid the 'telly' question is a very contentious one, as some like them and others don't :o
If there's a particular event on, like a footy match, then I can see the merit in having one on even though I don't like footy myself. Just can't stand it when they're in a dominating position where you have no choice other than to watch them. The pub or club house are places for socialising with others, enjoying a drink and maybe a bite to eat. Not for watching horonation street or westenders type prog's.
All IMHO obviously, though it does have an influence over where I would or wouldn't go for a night out :cool:
 
However a TV screen with soka is the pits... You get a handful of people looking in one direction whilst a voice in the speaker shouts out names interspersed with screams about something called a gole.... All pubs with TV football seem to be mostly empty as it destroys the atmosphere.

I agree, so don't go to a pub in Spain, they all have it
 
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