Greyhound Inn Sutton Stop

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

perhaps instead of demolishing the Greyhound the Black Country Museum could make an offer and remove it to their site at Tipton?

[IanD]

1 minute ago, Tonka said:

As I have already stated listing a building does not stop it being demolished 

You did, but that wasn't my point. The Crooked House got trashed because it was a dead money pit and nobody seemed to care until it got burned/demolished. The Greyhound is a successful and busy pub which is presumably making money for whoever owns and runs it. And it's a lot harder to get a big digger to and demolish it... 😉

[Tonka]

1 minute ago, IanD said:

You did, but that wasn't my point. The Crooked House got trashed because it was a dead money pit and nobody seemed to care until it got burned/demolished. The Greyhound is a successful and busy pub which is presumably making money for whoever owns and runs it. And it's a lot harder to get a big digger to and demolish it... 😉

It has road access so how is it harder to get a digger to it

[dmr]

24 minutes ago, IanD said:

You did, but that wasn't my point. The Crooked House got trashed because it was a dead money pit and nobody seemed to care until it got burned/demolished. The Greyhound is a successful and busy pub which is presumably making money for whoever owns and runs it. And it's a lot harder to get a big digger to and demolish it... 😉

 

Was the Crooked house really failing? or was it failing because somebody kept blocking the acess road with rubble, and then broke into the pub doing loads of damage but not taking anything?. Its very easy, and not unusual, to turn a pub into a loss making pub if you want the building for some other purpose.

[MtB]

18 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

Was the Crooked house really failing? or was it failing because somebody kept blocking the acess road with rubble, and then broke into the pub doing loads of damage but not taking anything?. Its very easy, and not unusual, to turn a pub into a loss making pub if you want the building for some other purpose.

 

Indeed.

 

Keep closing the pub randomly and unpredictably, sell out of date beer, don't pay your suppliers so they stop sending beer anyway, lock the door on Friday nights with a hand-scrawled sign saying "No Beer", and amazingly, the pub begins to fail and has to be turned into a private residence. 

[Sea Dog]

53 minutes ago, Goliath said:

perhaps instead of demolishing the Greyhound the Black Country Museum could make an offer and remove it to their site at Tipton?

They've just opened the Elephant and Castle in addition the Bottle and Glass. What are you trying to do - turn the place into an historic pub crawl?! 

 

(Let me know if you succeed and I'll buy you a pint!) 

[Captain Pegg]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

The difference is that the Crooked House was dying on its feet -- too few customers/closed/vandalised -- and the Greyhound seems to be a very successful pub/business, as well as being listed... 😉

Indeed. And if it is an Everard’s leasehold on CRT land it can’t just be sold.

 

It’d be interesting to know if CRT have sold the freehold although it not concerned it’ll go the same way as The Crooked House.

 

I was once accountable for two listed structures that were demolished. And 3,000 others (some listed, most not) that didn’t.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Captain Pegg

[MtB]

6 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

What are you trying to do - turn the place into an historic pub crawl?! 

 

 

Now THAT sounds like an excellent business proposition.

 

[Sea Dog]

2 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Now THAT sounds like an excellent business proposition.

 

Or simply a very pleasant afternoon... 

[Captain Pegg]

41 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

Was the Crooked house really failing? or was it failing because somebody kept blocking the acess road with rubble, and then broke into the pub doing loads of damage but not taking anything?. Its very easy, and not unusual, to turn a pub into a loss making pub if you want the building for some other purpose.

The problem was that Marston’s wanted to dispose of it and it was bought by people who wanted to do something other than operate a pub. I have no idea of it’s financial performance prior to disposal by Marston’s but one can make an educated guess. I think it’s a very different case. The Greyhound is not up for sale.

[IanD]

33 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

The problem was that Marston’s wanted to dispose of it and it was bought by people who wanted to do something other than operate a pub. I have no idea of it’s financial performance prior to disposal by Marston’s but one can make an educated guess. I think it’s a very different case. The Greyhound is not up for sale.

Marstons said they sold the Crooked House because like many pubs in the last few years it was no longer viable as a pub -- regardless of how many people say they love it now it's gone, there sure weren't many of them going there and buying beer when it was open, certainly not in the last few years -- and long before any vandalism/earthmoving happened recently. It's like people protesting when they hear the last pub in the village is closing who turn out haven't been there since last Xmas. Use it or lose it... 😞

 

Regardless of its ownership the Greyhound is a far busier and more successful pub for both food and drink sales -- the guys who've run it for the last 21 years aren't leaving because it's not making money.

Edited August 17, 2023 by IanD

[Jon57]

35 minutes ago, IanD said:

Marstons said they sold the Crooked House because like many pubs in the last few years it was no longer viable as a pub -- regardless of how many people say they love it now it's gone, there sure weren't many of them going there and buying beer when it was open, certainly not in the last few years -- and long before any vandalism/earthmoving happened recently. It's like people protesting when they hear the last pub in the village is closing who turn out haven't been there since last Xmas. Use it or lose it... 😞

 

Regardless of its ownership the Greyhound is a far busier and more successful pub for both food and drink sales -- the guys who've run it for the last 21 years aren't leaving because it's not making money.

That's what we should all do. Use it or loose it. Been doing my bit was in the greyhound last night food was excellent as well as the beer and company. Now doing my duty in the old windmill in Coventry. It's a hard life but what the hell someone got to do it to keep these great places open. I need a medal. 🍻😁🤣

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

1 minute ago, Jon57 said:

That's what we should all do. Use it or loose it. Been doing my bit was in the greyhound last night food was excellent as well as the beer and company. Now doing my duty in the old windmill in Coventry. It's a hard life but what the hell someone got to do it to keep these great places open. I need a medal. 🍻😁🤣

🏅 

[mrsmelly]

Just now, Jon57 said:

That's what we should all do. Use it or loose it. Been doing my bit was in the greyhound last night food was excellent as well as the beer and company. Now doing my duty in the old windmill in Coventry. It's a hard life but what the hell someone got to do it to keep these great places open. I need a medal. 🍻😁🤣

The facts are that we are in a tiny minority. Plenty of people will moan the demise of this that and the other pub and of those, most go once a year or the top two days mothers day and new years eve. People would in general rather waste hundreds of pounds a month in many cases on hiring the latest shiny car than spend it sensibly on beer 

[Jon57]

3 minutes ago, Goliath said:

🏅

Thanks 😁

[Sea Dog]

24 minutes ago, Jon57 said:

I need a medal.

Much as such courage is to be applauded, I think you'll have to make do with the pork medallions...

[Stroudwater1]

2 hours ago, IanD said:

The difference is that the Crooked House was dying on its feet -- too few customers/closed/vandalised -- and the Greyhound seems to be a very successful pub/business, as well as being listed... 😉

That’s not quite the case, as the subsequent support shows. Marstons closed it as they were selling it on. As we know they have been taken over by Carlsberg and have had the usual corporate stuff going on.

It had huge potential as many pubs not tied have, especially quirky ones. It also has a good and reasonably wealthy wide catchment area. The owners of the land around may allegedly have deliberately made what used to be a nice rural travel to the pub much less pleasant too.  
 

The trouble is a fast buck for developers is more attractive and easier that a greater but slower buck with hard work for a person taking in a Pub. With government incentives that equation could easily turn round but it’s not really on any government agenda especially as they all want more houses to be built.
 

Apologies particularly to Capt Pegg for diverting the thread , let’s all hope the future Greyhound publican  will see the huge potential as a lovely pub in a great historic position and go for it. 

[IanD]

17 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

That’s not quite the case, as the subsequent support shows. Marstons closed it as they were selling it on. As we know they have been taken over by Carlsberg and have had the usual corporate stuff going on.

It had huge potential as many pubs not tied have, especially quirky ones. It also has a good and reasonably wealthy wide catchment area. The owners of the land around may allegedly have deliberately made what used to be a nice rural travel to the pub much less pleasant too.  
 

The trouble is a fast buck for developers is more attractive and easier that a greater but slower buck with hard work for a person taking in a Pub. With government incentives that equation could easily turn round but it’s not really on any government agenda especially as they all want more houses to be built.
 

Apologies particularly to Capt Pegg for diverting the thread , let’s all hope the future Greyhound publican  will see the huge potential as a lovely pub in a great historic position and go for it. 

 

So where were all these supporters *before* the pub closed? From what I've heard trade there slumped with Covid -- though it wasn't exactly thronged with customers before then, as people shifted from drinking in pubs to drinking at home -- and never came back. The Crooked House might well have been iconic (and "loved" by some people) but that doesn't help pay the bills if nobody goes there... 😞

 

For example I've known about the pub for years and always meant to go there, but somehow was never in the right place at the right time. So I can be sorry that it's gone, but like many other people I did nothing to help keep it open. Having "potential" is useless unless it can actually be turned into reality, as many promising (but now bankrupt) businesses have found... 😞

 

Like I said, it looks like a "last pub in the village closing" problem, where most of the people protesting now never used it either -- because if they had it would have had lots of customers, wouldn't it?

 

And once a pub gets into this position of course there's pressure to develop it into something else that might actually be commercially viable, iconic status notwithstanding. Use it or lose it... 😉

 

In contrast the Greyhound should have a bright future assuming the right licensees take over, it's certainly starting from a far stronger position than the Crooked House ever did... 🙂

Edited August 17, 2023 by IanD

[mrsmelly]

39 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Much as such courage is to be applauded, I think you'll have to make do with the pork medallions...

You need courage to drink Courage 

[Ray T]

I have been visiting The Greyhound most Wednesday lunch times for about 8 years now. Food has always been excellent, staff ultra friendly and mine host, Leigh, very affable. Always a good crowd there with a wonderful atmosphere.

I don't know about the beer as I prefer a glass of wine with my food, never developed a taste for beer!
There is no fear of the pub shutting unless any incumbent who takes over really makes a mess of the job and or radically alters it.

I hope it retains its nod to its history.

 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Ray T

[dmr]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

 

 

Now THAT sounds like an excellent business proposition.

 

They took all the pubs and put them in a pub museum. 😀

[Tonka]

47 minutes ago, dmr said:

They took all the pubs and put them in a pub museum. 😀

You could write a song with them lyrics

[Sea Dog]

47 minutes ago, dmr said:

They took all the pubs and put them in a pub museum. 😀

A dollar and a half won't get you in the BCLM to see 'em though! 

[Captain Pegg]

1 hour ago, Stroudwater1 said:

(EDIT)
Apologies particularly to Capt Pegg for diverting the thread , let’s all hope the future Greyhound publican  will see the huge potential as a lovely pub in a great historic position and go for it. 

 

Thanks, but not necessary. It was @Ray T who started it but no member has the right to control the content of any thread.

 

My concern was that the content of the thread could be taken to suggest that the Greyhound is under some sort of threat, and I see no reason to think that it is. Tenants come and go in the licensing trade but the fact that the last two tenants have both been there for 20 years and the pub has thrived throughout tells us a lot. It's undoudbtedly one of the best pubs in the country, canal side or otherwise. It doesn't guarantee survival but a recession does tend to separate the wheat from the chaff.

 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Captain Pegg

[David Mack]

6 hours ago, Tonka said:

So if it is not a pub can you demolish it without planning permission 

Not if its listed.

5 hours ago, Goliath said:

perhaps instead of demolishing the Greyhound the Black Country Museum could make an offer and remove it to their site at Tipton?

It's not in the Black Country.

And they've already said no to rebuilding the Crooked House.