BITE user comments - James_Enterprise
Comments by James_Enterprise
I wouldn't have thought so Stonch, as I believe the pubs you mentioned are managed houses, whereas following the change from managed to franchise, M&B are no longer the driving force behind the direction of the business. The new host is.
The thing to bear in mind is that pub franchises are completely different from fast food & high st. retail franchises. They are not uniform. It's only really in terms of the office side of things that there's any involvement with the company.
It's not my place to say what Nick may or may not do, as I no longer work there. Having met the man though, I'm confident that any changes he might make will benefit, rather than detract, from the pub and its character & atmosphere.
6 Apr 2006 18:21
Mitchells & Butlers. Don't worry about this changeover impacting on the atmosphere though. It won't become more chain-like, in fact this is good news for the pub because Nick, the new host, has total autonomy in how how he does things. For example, it is his choice as a franchisee which ales he offers in the future, whereas as a manager, I was told what to offer.
6 Apr 2006 15:41
Last week the pub changed hands. It will now be run as a franchise operation. That means the new host will be able to operate as he sees fit, rather than having to follow a rigid set of guidelines.
Thanks and farewell to you all.
3 Apr 2006 03:35
Yes, unfortunately that's exactly the case Stonch. For example, Hen will be replaced with Bombardier shortly after the 15th, and I have no say in the matter. The reason for it being so tightly controlled is that we are not only a managed house, but branded too.
If it were my choice, I'd have Adnams as the house ale, and two regularly changing guest ales, one weak and one strong. I'd also stock one or two bottled ales at times, from the Shepherd Neame's Christmas variety for example.
Afraid the best I can do is to ensure the quality of what I am given, and try to have all three on without significant downtime. Others have said to me what you have, and I'll pass the feedback on in the hope it might cause a ripple in the corporate pond.
10 Mar 2006 01:01
Stonch, we now have Speckled Hen as an alternative. This is part of a year-long guest ale plan the brand recently decided on. As I understand it, we'll have a new one every two months. I'll see if I can find out what the next ones are, and in what order they'll arrive. (I have a feeling it'll be Bombardier next, but I'm not certain.) Afraid I'm not allowed to offer any ales other than in compliance with their plan though, sorry.
Update on the lighting: no luck finding the mantles, but I've heard murmurs about replacing the gas lights with electrical replicas sometime later in the year as part of a small tidy-up.
21 Feb 2006 00:45
Thanks for your kind comments George and John.
I agree that the walls are in need of work. I'll have a word with my boss, see if we can sort out something in the near future. The lighting should, in principle, be easier to address. I've been trying to source some mantles which our out-of-service gas wall lights need. (They safely contain the naked flames, and also prevent the glass shades from cracking due to overheating.) That is the reason the rear half of the pub has been dim in recent weeks. I was recently informed of a company that supposedly sells them though, and I'm hoping to get hold of some by the end of the coming week.
1 Jan 2006 14:05
Forgot to mention that we are no longer part of the Nicholsons chain as it says above; we are now part of London Pubs, which is a more subtle brand, better-suited to this type of pub.
12 Nov 2005 14:31
Hello I'm James, the current host of The Enterprise. If you have any questions please ask.
In response to the previous comments, we have not had fruit machines for over a year. We have a SWP quiz machine, but it is kept in an unobtrusive corner and it does not emit sound.
Our current selection of ales consists of Adnams and London Pride. I am pushing for a third, rotating guest ale, but am currently meeting resistance (this is a managed house). Both ales have the Cask Marque mark of excellence, and I was trained in cellar management by Fullers of Chiswick.
The pub is indeed closed on weekends, because the bulk of our trade comes from people working in the area. We are willing however, to open on the weekends for private parties.
We provide the pub to your group of friends/colleagues exclusively for a Saturday or Sunday evening, free of charge. We ask only that you guarantee a minimum of fifty people. We will be able to provide 12 o'clock closing automatically for these events after 24th November, and would be willing to consider applications for later closing depending on the circumstances.
There is still much to be done to allow this pub to reach its full potential, and I am trying to achieve as much as I can, despite it being the age-old uphill struggle of manager vs company.
12 Nov 2005 14:27
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The Orange Tree, Friern Barnet
Hello to the regulars, this is James who was with you recently. I'd like to thankyou all for your warm welcome, and apologize for having to leave abruptly. After 34 days straight, and 472 hours in five weeks, I was done in. I had to put my health and my relationship first. I would like to have stayed long-term and made it successful, (which would have been easy enough if the boss had only co-operated with a handful of reasonable requests,) but the hours to pay ratio was not only a joke but also comprised an illegal pay structure below the minimum wage. I had no terms of employment and no job security. I was a mug to stay as long as I did...
Warm regards & respect to you all, be good to the girls, and if you want your local to succeed then don't let the new man bin DJ Snoops. He'll be the making of that place, if anybody or anything will. Remember also that you're the people who matter; so long as you all keep being excellent to each other, then you can keep the atmosphere going there and it won't matter which dumbarse member of my profession is naive or desperate enough to end up there each month!
PS: If Steve gets the bonus ball again this week, then I reckon he's nobbled the National Lottery!
20 Oct 2009 08:41