Shroppie Fly

[Cheshire cat]

7 hours ago, Hastings said:

The latest position in Audlem (from a resident):

 

Shroppie Fly - Recent new management, friendly, good, clean, up to 6 real ales.  Basket meals but currently only lunchtime/afternoon, tasty and good value.

Bridge Inn - several real ales, Marston tied house, no food, changing hands soon.

Lord Combermere - very comfy, excellent food, several real ales, but landlord leaves on 31 July.

Chip Shop closed until further notice (owner has died).

Aayans takeaway - Indian, pizzas, burgers - excellent

Thanks for the update. I hope it all works out for the replacement licencees. And indeed the chip shop. One of my favorite places to visit. A shame about the music festival.

[gatekrash]

Heard on a fb group today that the Shroppie fly is apparently now shut again...!

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Best get yourself to the Anchor on the Cov, that’s the place to be 👍

[MtB]

1 hour ago, gatekrash said:

Heard on a fb group today that the Shroppie fly is apparently now shut again...!

 

 

Could that have been reported on Monday perhaps? 

 

The fashion for staying closed on Mondays is spreading like wildfire amongst pubs around here. 

[Mike Todd]

10 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

Could that have been reported on Monday perhaps? 

 

The fashion for staying closed on Mondays is spreading like wildfire amongst pubs around here. 

Maybe that the landlords are still having to get other jobs to pay their bills. There was a note in the window of a pub on the Montgomery which explained why it is only open part of the week: it is a Free House (IIRC) and the couple owning and running it had to get jobs in a supermarket during the pandemic as they had no other income. As it turned out, they quite welcomed the stability of a wage and have also found that they have done quite well at their roles. With rural pubs finding that business is returning rather slowly and at lower levels than pre-COVID, they - sensibly in my view - have decided to juggle both roles, still working at the supermarket and also four days pub opening. To me, that feels much more like a real commitment to the 'local' than the other way around, although I guess from the subtext in the note that some people have been less than kind to them about it. At least they have been willing to be open about their reasoning.

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

Maybe that the landlords are still having to get other jobs to pay their bills. There was a note in the window of a pub on the Montgomery which explained why it is only open part of the week: it is a Free House (IIRC) and the couple owning and running it had to get jobs in a supermarket during the pandemic as they had no other income. As it turned out, they quite welcomed the stability of a wage and have also found that they have done quite well at their roles. With rural pubs finding that business is returning rather slowly and at lower levels than pre-COVID, they - sensibly in my view - have decided to juggle both roles, still working at the supermarket and also four days pub opening. To me, that feels much more like a real commitment to the 'local' than the other way around, although I guess from the subtext in the note that some people have been less than kind to them about it. At least they have been willing to be open about their reasoning.

 

 

A local publician I was chatting to about this Monday closing thing a few years ago (which was actually taking root before the pandemic), said it was a staffing issue. It might even have been the then-landlord in the Shroppie Fly.

 

Specifically, he said customers expected food in pubs nowadays and to serve food he needed a chef. To serve food seven days a week he needed two chefs, as one employee cannot be expected or made to work seven days a week under current employment laws. So his choice was to employ two chefs sharing the work, neither working full time, or one chef working full time i.e five days a week and close the pub for one day, and muddle through doing say a limited Sunday lunch menu only on Sunday and doing the kitchen himself. 

 

It sort of makes sense to me and illustrates the stress publicans find themselves under these days.

 

Pubs are supposed to be drinking holes, not restaurants IMO.

 

 

 

 

[IanD]

28 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

A local publician I was chatting to about this Monday closing thing a few years ago (which was actually taking root before the pandemic), said it was a staffing issue. It might even have been the then-landlord in the Shroppie Fly.

 

Specifically, he said customers expected food in pubs nowadays and to serve food he needed a chef. To serve food seven days a week he needed two chefs, as one employee cannot be expected or made to work seven days a week under current employment laws. So his choice was to employ two chefs sharing the work, neither working full time, or one chef working full time i.e five days a week and close the pub for one day, and muddle through doing say a limited Sunday lunch menu only on Sunday and doing the kitchen himself. 

 

It sort of makes sense to me and illustrates the stress publicans find themselves under these days.

 

Pubs are supposed to be drinking holes, not restaurants IMO.

 

 

I do love proper boozers where the priority is the drink, but this is very difficult for publicans to survive on nowadays because of high costs (booze, wages, rent) and low margins and much cheaper supermarket booze to drink at home -- the profit on food is *much* higher, and is often the only thing that keeps a pub viable. Pubs which don't do food have a difficult time of it -- I know a couple locally and they're great pubs, but life isn't easy for them... 😞

Edited June 9, 2022 by IanD

[Arthur Marshall]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

 

I do love proper boozers where the priority is the drink, but this is very difficult for publicans to survive on nowadays because of high costs (booze, wages, rent) and low margins and much cheaper supermarket booze to drink at home -- the profit on food is *much* higher, and is often the only thing that keeps a pub viable. Pubs which don't do food have a difficult time of it -- I know a couple locally and they're great pubs, but life isn't easy for them... 😞

It used to be the fruit machines that kept pubs in profit. Possibly fag machines helped too - I remember you only got 18 in a packet rather than 20. Didn't fruit machines get banned from pubs a few years sgo?

[Laurie Booth]

44 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

It used to be the fruit machines that kept pubs in profit. Possibly fag machines helped too - I remember you only got 18 in a packet rather than 20. Didn't fruit machines get banned from pubs a few years sgo?

Fruit machines are allowed in pubs.

 

[StephenA]

13 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

Could that have been reported on Monday perhaps? 

 

The fashion for staying closed on Mondays is spreading like wildfire amongst pubs around here. 

 

According to their FB page they are closed on Thursdays

[Slow and Steady]

On 05/06/2022 at 10:41, MtB said:

The odd occasional exception was when a well dresses gent in an expensive coat might come in, put £100 or £1,000 to win on one horse, then scoot off. That horse would usually win.

I've only ever put one bet on a horse, the only time I've been in a bookies apart from to collect my winnings. £50 at 40:1, it was a "red hot tip". Horse racing is fixed but obviously it's great if you get the nod.

[MtB]

13 minutes ago, Slow and Steady said:

I've only ever put one bet on a horse, the only time I've been in a bookies apart from to collect my winnings. £50 at 40:1, it was a "red hot tip". Horse racing is fixed but obviously it's great if you get the nod.

 

 

Yes, and the more whiley punters in the shop when that happened would come and quietly ask me which horse the big bet was placed on, then come back and put 10p to win on it themselves, too. 

[Slow and Steady]

1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

 

Yes, and the more whiley punters in the shop when that happened would come and quietly ask me which horse the big bet was placed on, then come back and put 10p to win on it themselves, too. 

You have to be careful with big bets to win. We were working on a building site, 6 of us. We all went to different bookies, it would have been a tad suspicious if we'd formed an orderly queue!

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Slow and Steady said:

You have to be careful with big bets to win. We were working on a building site, 6 of us. We all went to different bookies, it would have been a tad suspicious if we'd formed an orderly queue!

 

Whenever we took a big bet over a certain threshold we were under instruction to ring head office who would 'lay it off' with other betting shops. Often a call would come back five minutes later to refuse all bets on that particular Dobin as head office was getting an avalanche of calls!

[Slow and Steady]

1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

Whenever we took a big bet over a certain threshold we were under instruction to ring head office who would 'lay it off' with other betting shops. Often a call would come back five minutes later to refuse all bets on that particular Dobin as head office was getting an avalanche of calls!

It's a game isn't it? A game most if not all trainers play - hobble your horse for x number of races to get your odds up then let it fly.

[MtB]

32 minutes ago, Slow and Steady said:

It's a game isn't it? A game most if not all trainers play - hobble your horse for x number of races to get your odds up then let it fly.

 

Yeah... I get my trainers to do that with all my racehorses...

 

 

[Slow and Steady]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

Yeah... I get my trainers to do that with all my racehorses...

 

 

Me too, the trick is to watch everyone else playing the same game and make sure you're not letting it race just as 3 more do the same! 'tis what you pay the trainer for after all. 

 

[Hastings]

Update on the Shroppie Fly - we live next door.  It's closed today, as it's their day off.  A sign on the door says they will be open this Friday - Saturday from 12.00 - 6.00, then the pub will close till a new licensee is found by Heineken/Star Pubs.  Apparently, they have not been able to recruit staff, and without staff, a proper food menu can't be offered.  And I suspect that without food, the pub won't be financially viable.

[IanD]

30 minutes ago, Hastings said:

Update on the Shroppie Fly - we live next door.  It's closed today, as it's their day off.  A sign on the door says they will be open this Friday - Saturday from 12.00 - 6.00, then the pub will close till a new licensee is found by Heineken/Star Pubs.  Apparently, they have not been able to recruit staff, and without staff, a proper food menu can't be offered.  And I suspect that without food, the pub won't be financially viable.

Sounds like a visit on Fri/Sat might be worth it, could be selling beer off extra-cheap to get any money they can in before closing...

[dmr]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Yeah... I get my trainers to do that with all my racehorses...

 

 

I watched a young woman doing that on the pool table at the Flapper in Brum.....she looked quite drunk and was playing like an idiot. A bloke came up and asked for a game and suggested a little bet....she accepted but suggested a bigger bet and he agreed....silly man.

[MtB]

2 hours ago, dmr said:

I watched a young woman doing that on the pool table at the Flapper in Brum.....she looked quite drunk and was playing like an idiot. A bloke came up and asked for a game and suggested a little bet....she accepted but suggested a bigger bet and he agreed....silly man.

 

 

Lol I've done similar with a Rubik Cube. Mucked around with it muttering to myself "damn thing, can't be THAT difficult.... I'll definitely have it done in a few more minutes", trying to tempt someone into betting me I won't. Truth is, they are really easy to solve once someone teaches you how! 

[Arthur Marshall]

7 hours ago, Laurie Booth said:

Fruit machines are allowed in pubs.

 

Shows how long it is since I've been in a pub!

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

2 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Shows how long it is since I've been in a pub!

You wouldn’t recognise some of them as fruit machines 

You don’t have to pull handle anymore 😂

 

Watched a bloke the other day feeding £20 notes in to a machine. He’d press one button and then sit back down with his pint while the machine did it’s thing. 
Then get up and feed it again. 
🤷‍♀️Didn’t see him win owt. 
 

 

[Lily Rose]

43 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Lol I've done similar with a Rubik Cube. Mucked around with it muttering to myself "damn thing, can't be THAT difficult.... I'll definitely have it done in a few more minutes", trying to tempt someone into betting me I won't. Truth is, they are really easy to solve once someone teaches you how! 

Yeah, I used to be able to do that back in the day. I had read/learnt the technique somewhere, not sure where as it was many years before the internet. A classic case of easy when you know how.

 

Long since forgotten how to do it though.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

6 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

Yeah, I used to be able to do that back in the day. I had read/learnt the technique somewhere, not sure where as it was many years before the internet. A classic case of easy when you know how.

 

Long since forgotten how to do it though.

Peel the stickers off and rearrange.