Thursday; – Fit the First

Well, here’s Thursday!

Which is as good a way as any to start.

I’m nervous, it’s got to be said.   It has, after all, been nine months since I was anywhere near the Hutton, and was “temporarily discharged” by the previous manager’s.   Which, along with the balls up Andy and Shelley managed to make of their end of running an otherwise successful quiz, didn’t exactly endear them to me.

Which doesn’t sound stunning, possibly, but, in my experience, running a halfway decent pub quiz doesn’t just rely all on the quizmaster; – half of it’s all about the staff and management.

I really shouldn’t blame them too much; – the Hutton was the first pub they took on, as tenants or or managers, and was at the start of the smoking ban, which didn’t help, and just before the credit crunch started to bite … The fact they eventually decided to give it up after something like a year was no surprise, particularly as Punch put up both the rent, AND the prices.

But, back to my earlier point about staff.   Well, Andy and Shelley made a couple of wrong choices …

One of whom managed to alienate a good half of the regular teams, and that definitely didn’t help.   About four, in all.

Which, given we had between eight and ten regular teams, was a chunk of regular income.

Oh, I can’t blame them, totally, they were on a budget, but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth.   And considering the staff member concerned was – as far as we could tell – using cocaine, which they’d been warned about, several times.   You can imagine what I felt.

But …

It’s all new, now.

Sue, the new landlady, used to run the Castle, back in the day, and somewhat competently, as far as I could ever see.   So that’s hopeful.   It’ll just be a case of attracting back punter’s, and some of the regulars.   As Sue and Zeki, her partner, used to run a very successful pub in Harlow, I’m told, that strikes me as a good sign

Here’s hoping.   Wish me well.