BITE user comments - capitalistpiglet
Comments by capitalistpiglet
Surprised that there hasn't been more commentary on this remarkably turned around little pub. The guys that have bought it have performed a minor miracle. Wide range of constantly changing beers , some from the pump, some on stillage from the cellar. Personally find the selection a bit too hoppy for me but that's taste. Good basic pub grub - the mini burgers are a good mid-afternoon snack. Now the place to go for football on TV without the tiresome need to slap some little wannabe that you can get in other pubs in town. Overall fine pub, good service, great atmosphere. CAMRA members get a discount on some beers.
10 Jan 2013 10:05
And Nigel still speaks fondly of you Tewin.... :-)
Chapter godknowshowmany. A New Beginning (Again) New Guy Paul now in. He's another manager, but seems to be treating the job as a bit more than that. Didn't realize that behind the scenes things were even worse that we thought. Hence the nuclear devastation that the previous poster encountered. Probably would have been best to close for a couple of days whilst the place was cleaned up , all pipes comprehensively rinsed through (had to restock on line cleaner) & the place put back into some sort of order. He's managed to get Fullers to do more to the place in a few days than they've done in the previous 3 years
There is ice , lemons, plenty of snacks & a packed cellar (should go without saying, & sad that has to be confirmed, but we are talking Fullers here) . Plans for food (imminently) Six nations on TV, Wi-Fi, local acoustic groups occasionally (Tex Arse Blues - which to be fair were brought in by previous incumbents) Again core staff retained. Result ( & these are early days) is looking hopeful.
Beer good - which to be honest is a major factor. Try it again - you may be surprised.
10 Jan 2013 09:41
The madness that is Fullers continues. They have installed a "management company" into the pub whilst they desperately look for (or as some conspiracy theorists would have it, NOT look for ) a new Tenant. That is one daft enough to be taken in by the package they are offer (See Taff's insightful comments below).
Observed from behind my paper yesterday. The "Crisp & nuts" man walked in with a delivery, to replenish the hungry locals who are still coming to the pub despite the shambolic past 4 years. The manager, (the nice guy Terry, who is with his staff, doing a sterling effort in keeping the place together & the beer & food good) contacted his management company to get the OK to pay for them & was told ....no.! They tried to keep this low key, but when you've got a rather annoyed delivery man now taking his stock back out to the van, its a bit difficult to ignore.....
It didn't take an accountant to work out that the Management Company refused a profit of @�350 plus further lost profit from the many people who may now just shrug their shoulders & march on to the Black Horse . All for a few quid on half a dozen boxes of snacks.
Stephen Lindsley-Frost is the Business Development Manager (Area Manager in old speak) responsible for the WH over the last few years & can be contacted on [email protected]. If you value this pub maybe a word of encouragement & suggestions of how to get a new long term Leasee for the benefit of the White Horse & Fullers would help. A packet of crisps (or nuts), in the post, may also be appropriate....
24 Oct 2012 10:13
The revolving door spins round. Martyn & his wife left last Tuesday, now back to a relief manager, a decent guy called Terry. It is rumoured that the Family Butchers have given him next to no money to actually run the place; they seem to have it in for the pub & it & all who use it should be punished for supposed misdominers in the past. However I tend to go for the cock-up over conspiracy theory & that the shambles of the last few years is down to sheer incompetence & greed at Fullers and if I was the Business Development Manager who had overseen 5 lessees & 2 relief managers, since Nigel left I would have considered my position some time ago. And Nigel left (approximately Taff) 3 years , 10 months, 2 days, 2 hours 35 minutes ago. Give or take.
The strange thing is that for review purposes it still serves a good pint, had very successful music night on Friday & the food is taking off again.So still, despite all that Fullers can do, well worth a visit...
8 Oct 2012 14:35
Opened again Friday nite (18/11/11). Not a bad refurb by Fullers actually which may seem strange following my previous comments . They have tried to do a sympathetic job on the place with a mind to their profits (& it is their pub for good or bad) but at least taking the views of the locals into consideration. BDM came along on the opening night & listened to the views of the locals; to be honest I think they became very aware of the strength of feeling during a weeks concerted campaign by several concerned regulars. And again to be fair to them they responded promptly to some quite heartfelt correspondence.
Some comedy cock ups with the fittings - but they have all been retained, which was a concern. And the positioning of a mirror in THE bar has to be seen to be believed. Main thing is full range of beers (inc guests) Wayne, a cheerful ex-army temp relief manager, the old staff are mostly back (hurrah) as is Jed (HURRAH!).
And as that all means next to nothing to anyone who does not use the pub on a regular basis � The Review Bit: 7/8 beers on � mostly Fullers/Gales but Liberation (Channel Islands) & a couple of other guests on over this weekend. Wayne has been actively checking what guests (from the Fullers range) we want on � made a play for Wherry yesterday. He seems to know how to keep his beers, has quickly learnt that a Lancastrian sized head on our pint is not the done thing in Hertford & has retained the wonderful Greg who is excellent as a cellar man. Kitchen is having a deep clean & will shortly be reopen � similar range of home made British (& occasionally Hungarian) grub.
All in all repeat not bad � in fact a lot better than that � Now to deal with #2 of our concerns . To find a good , long term tenant who can make a decent living from the place (with the Brewery making a fair profit)
21 Nov 2011 11:41
To lose one landlord (leaseholder) may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose five in the space of three years smacks of arrant, incompetent stupidity.
The accountants that now run Fullers seem to have a view purely of the balance sheet & never of the actual business of running pubs. And speaking as someone who is (partly) accountancy trained , they are not even that good at the balance sheet bit. Any business worth it's salt should have some idea of the middle to long term & driving the WH into the ground for instant pennies is sheer lunacy. They�ve already priced themselves out of Hertford according to at least two other freehouse landlords of my acquaintance � even at the discounted prices they charge (The Horse as a Leasehold perversely has to pay more). It's still better value for the freehold publicans, to stock, say Doombar, rather than London Pride.
Are they trying to close it down, get planning permission for residential? The Black Horse scenario (pub across the road) would suggest that this won't happen Greene King toyed with this & ended up selling it as a free house. ; change of use is not as easy to get as it was. Sell it as a restaurant (no change of use needed)? A new Burger King in that case maybe. Or are they just happy that they have a cash cow that will keep on bringing home the bacon (mixed metaphor shurly CP) except of course it won't. People will get wise, prospective landlords will google White Horse , Hertford & find this, various other damning links to websites that will be written over the next few days & not touch it with a Barge Pole (No insult intended to Simon at the wonderful, if reassuringly expensive, Old Barge).
I've used this gem of a pub for 25 years or so. I will no doubt be drinking the last of George's beer at lunchtime with an Octogenarian who can trace his time well back to illicit pints drunk whilst he was a schoolboy at Richard Hale. All the last five leaseholders (well in one case, immediate family) are mates. I have even closer friends that were landladies, landlords, bar staff, chefs: I even married one of the barmaids (not mandatory for locals but hell..)
Taff posted above the figures & they remain lamentable reading. Fuller , Smith & Turner seem destined to destroy a wonderful Hertford institution (& the WH Public Bar on a Friday night is definitely an institution.....). Eleven years ago, after Fullers bought the place I received a letter from Michael Turner in response to one I wrote to him about the impending change of Landlord & the need to retain someone who had a �feel� for the place. He swore not to radically change the WH; they bought the pub because he loved the place, indeed he was accused of buying the place as a �vanity purchase�. Also because it sold more London Pride per footage than any of their tied estate. To be fair, at the time, was to his word. But times change. With the accountants in charge the feel is irrelevant & they assume the Pride will keep on being drunk whatever. Twats.
I am told that a �holding company� will be replacing George ; might as well put traffic wardens in charge. Rumour goes that only Pride & ESB on pump (that should be interesting when the Pride goes). Maybe just put the old thing out of it's misery rather than slow FST death.
Maybe I am being too pessimistic. A new leaseholder will come along, take the baton & run with it. Or the lottery ticket I'm about to buy will pay dividends & I can make the bloodsuckers an offer they can't refuse. But this time I'm not optimistic........
6 Nov 2011 11:40
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The White Horse, Hertford
Well its been over 18 months now & Paul has taken the pub from stength to stength. Tapas nights each Thursday are aclaimed (he spent many years in Spain) & 10 or so & a new winter menu + Sunday Roast starts this week.
Beers are in excellent nick .. ok many from the Fullers/Gales lists, but he's getting as many as he is allowed from the Guest list (Castle Rock Harvest Pale has been the best seller for months). Plenty of music on (a folk club meets upstairs regularly).
And possibly the best proof that normal (pre shambolic time) has been restored, so has the pub; In the Good Beer Guide 2015 .....
16 Sep 2014 14:01