Any STW landlords) tell me about running a pub

Get some decent cider in too! And put some local cycle and walking routes on your web site.

Spent many a happy hour drinking in pubs round there (apparently) when Ciderinsport was running said hostelrys (i’m his bro so got free beer – sometimes!)

If you can come up with a good 30-mile off-road route linking beach & downs, I’ll bring Newforce down for a club ride one sunday (when your bike racks done).

Great pubs should be celebrated.

Problem is, there are so few of them and so many mediocre ones…

Good luck! I’ve spent many weekends in (on?) the Witterings and have been past many times. I’ll get the olds to drop in when they’re next sailing by (you might have to wait to wait ’til spring 2013.). A lunch menu of posh fish and chips, soups and the like would suit them perfectly…

Have to say, it looks great from the photos on the website!

Best of luck. Looks like a great pub. Real Ale getting more and more popular. Keep us posted.

Great pubs should be celebrated.
Problem is, there are so few of them and so many mediocre ones…

Agreed – took a couple of mates to my very excellent local at the weekend and they said that they thought places like it no longer existed. Nothing too fancy, just excellent beer & cider from clean lines in clean glasses, good food at sensible prices and some good quality banter from the landlord and bar staff. Seems that problems start to occur when the simple things get forgotten, either out of laziness or getting too excited about some new fangled idea.

Best of luck to you – looks a fantastic place!

I shall cycle over one day for a pint .
As the crow flies you are about 3 miles away , its about a 15 mile ride though.
I take it you are tied to H&W for beers?
Given the location I would definatly do pension specials a lunchtime. Loads of coffin dodgers locally , and they only want child sized portions too . Down side is they will trip and fall down every step in the place.- so lots of bright lights and signs so they cant sue your ar$e.
In the summer WW is mobbed , you need to be the ‘go to’ place when there is a 5 mile traffic jam gettting away from the beach. People will divert to a pub or chippy for a meal and waste a few hours waiting for the traffic to disappear .
How you achieve this i do not know , flyers maybe?

Looks like a lovely pub.

Not sure that menu is a good idea, it might put the average punter off.

Looks more suited to a posh restaurant rather than a pub (or even a gastro-pub).

Good luck.

I know the area through work and well run pubs can certainly do well but I expects its mighty hard work.

Focus on customer service, polite, friendly, well trained staff and you wont go far wrong. Very simple but also simple to get wrong and none of us like to be insulted by some 21 yr old bar person telling us its 2:01 pm so the kitchen is closed.

Personally I wouldn’t worry too much about facebook, I would be more concerned about sorting out a sensible menu, staff training, keeping the rent below 12% of turnover, GP above 60% (I assume you are tied?), and making sure no one has a bad experience.

In this area service and product are more important than pricing. I think.

Ah, I drive past that whenever we go to the beach. Will have to stop in there on the way back.

SOrry for the radio silence on this – as those of you in the business will know, it’s been a bloody busy week, so as much as I love STW, it’s been on the backburner for a few days….

Thanks for the messages of good luck – weirdly it’s really nice to have a bit of good feeling to help in those ohmygodwhathaveigoneanddone moments.

we got the keys a week ago, closed for two days, painted lots of stuff, sanded down tables, bought a little bit of new furniture, built, what I think is probably the most kick ass wine rack I’ve ever seen, and opened to the public.

We’ve been busy 🙂

Took on board the STW comments re the menu – so altered it based on feedback from here other sources feedback – of course you were all completely correct!

http://www.thelambwittering.co.uk/#/daily-menu/4569934398

Bottom line – it’s all great – I’ve not worked hours like these since my first summer season, but I’m loving it – the most varied thing I’ve ever done, with something scary happening most days, but I *think* it’s actually gonna be a cracker.

just as an FYI, my head chef is truly, truly awesome. he won a michelin star at his previous big restaurant, and via a long story is helping us out for a few months – a shameless plug – it’s bloody good food – come and see us! more pics soon, but I have some barrels to tap right now.

jimbonolongerinbrighton

🙂

Will be in for a pint. Do we get a discount for sneaking slippers/saricin/bombers into out order?

My club aren’t far from you, over in E Sussex. If you have good local riding, we may pop over your way for a day!!

Good luck with the pub, sadly I’m in the wrong country to visit! (And there are no pubs here, perhaps that could be an opening?… )

One comment is that some bits of your website looks pretty weird on Chrome / Windows 7 – the menu in particular seems to be trying to do something clever with the scrolling on various sections, which cunningly hides some of the options. (The All Day Menu Starters section, for example). I’d personally go with a completely static HTML page, for a (relatively) simple menu like this.