Some of the SSSD know the background to this , but i shall briefly outline the story.
Around march of this year we were in the death throes at work. The idiot owner had run out of cash, and his rather annoying partner had got a little tired of paying our wages . As a last hurrah Mad Malcolm responded to an advert to be filmed for a Channel 4 docu – drama with Sir Gerry Robinson MP ( He tried to sort the NHS, ran Granada Hotels , did a series called “I’ll show them who’s boss!”) Basically remaking the old Sir John Harvey Jones series “Troubleshooter”, with a touch of Dragons den as he would be lending firms money ( or his TV appearence fee ) to help them survive.

They filmed for about 10 days on site, and generally stirred things up to create more drama. It wasn’t much fun as we had no work to do as we had more or less run out of stock,and funds to play with.
The annoying thing is it was mostly avoidable , and all down to mad Malcolm who runs the business.

Anyhoo. I , up till 9.45 on Thursday , still have a job and still get paid each week. So I put myself forward for much drubbing and taking of the mick as the STW massive can deliver. I haven’t seen any of it yet . It might be a load of codswollop, but it got a highly recommended in the Independant on saturday.

‘ Goes off to sort beer and crisps for the evenings entertainment ‘

I saw this advertised so shall give it a look. Which one are you?

Oh Yeah, Im the brewer at IVB. Sometimes .

Excellent. Had it bookmarkthingied on Sky already.

Definitely worth a watch folks!
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/gerrys-big-decision

Are you nervous about tomorrow mate? 🙂

Really looking forward to seeing this STM!
I’ve sorted out somewhere to go and watch it and my friend’s cooking me dinner too 🙂
Do you only find out if you get the money at the end of the programme then…? Good luck – still remember the tour with fondness!

If they show the ” I was listening so hard , I didnt hear what he said ” part, and me shouting and deliberatly stuttering my way through a utterly ridiculous meeting with ” Vertically integrated management structure” ( we employ 5 members of staff .- integrate that Miss Management ) Where ‘Brain’ Mad Malcolms partner tells us all off for not workig, when in fact we did more work , and all of her points of arguement I had raised with malcolm on numerous occaisions.
Will probably get slated on the ‘do more with less’ Savage chickens cartoon, which is still our motto at work.

Will you still have a job tomorrow?

Friday will be the day of truth…

BUMP!

Is Singletrackmind “Rob” in the programme?

I would imagine so.

I was going to ask if I could buy some hops for my homebrewing but seems they haven’t got any 😯

was STM wearing a hat?

The other brewery looks a better bet. They still seem to be making beer!

is he the balding one?

Poor Rob! 🙂

Oh dear, not going well for IVB really. Which one is STM ❓

Courtney – what a nob!

forgot about this and just flicked over, is Jane a normal worker whose been picked out as she’s shown potential, Courtney has to be the worlds worst salesman 😆

That women is already annoying me. In house training – role playing. That’ll solve all the probs.

Well that was a disasterous sales pitch! Yeah he so does need training!

In house training – role playing

Well the guy clearly needs to brush up (or rather get some) his sales skills. ‘Yes there is a small charge to taste the beer we would like you to sell for us’ – yeh right.

This ere Rob fella from on here, he’s what’s known as a ‘blocker’.

Wonder if he sat outside and decided what his objective was for the meeting and what was the least he would settle for when he left, somehow I doubt it.

Yeah but I think he needs more than role playing. Needs to look at his influencing skills first And his general attitude.

has singletrackmind been on yet?

Potential customer (pub owner type) – “Can I come and have a taste of the beers on offer before I commit to buying them in?

Salesman – “Yeah, there’s a minimal charge and we have a shop – just give us a couple of weeks notice…”

Nice one!

Having seen the results of Ramseys Kitchen Nightmares up close I’m very conscious that what actually happens and what’s shown to have happened can often be 2 very different things. However despite the fact that we’re only in the first adverts I already know where my money would go!

Drum roll……

He’s still got a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hurrah

He’s doing both of them. Kin soft as shit – bloody hard man of industry my arse – but a good bloke and I like him

Taken a majority stake in both companies! Only one winner from this

free pints for everyone then?

Looks like Gerry will be owning 2 small breweries in the near future….

So, the brewery is now well off – but if that was filmed back in April (or whenever) what is the situation now? IS IVB making money?

Bearing in mind I did a tour there a month or so ago and they’re into Weatherspoons and a shed load (or what appeared to be) of london pubs, is it all roses, dinner and candlelight?

c’mon stm, has it made a (positive) difference?

Looks like their doing alright

”moved to new premises”

I used to work for a small brewery not a million miles away. It’s a tough job, but stay local, stay true and it’s all good!

Keep brewing!

PS – The Bush at Ovington, not far away and awfully good!

Well their website is offline at the moment – could be overloaded or …

They were at the same site as on the telly when I went there.
Pure gold was my favourite.
CFH – I’ll add to the list of must visit pubs then…

They are brewing and Rob seems about as optimistic about the future as ever! I’m sure he’ll be on tomorrow to update everyone…

Good TV! Highlight for me, Rob to GR: Is that the best idea you could come up with?!
Didn’t think that Courtney would be as bad as he’d been described…