Wot, no TPD?

[NickFitz]

Evening denizens

Home again

Now to head off past any bits of that wonderful Victorian bridge that haven't been demolished yet to the final Friday night at my local of twenty-one years, which is being forced to close next week (despite being a thriving business) pending demolition

[Board Game Geek]

Evening denizens

my local of twenty-one years, which is being forced to close next week (despite being a thriving business) pending demolition

Who is forcing this, and why, if it is a thriving business ?

The only reason a thriving business (if that is what it is) would close would be because another business / opportunity in its place could make more money.

Hence, the chain (if there is one involved) seeks to build a bigger and better (YMMV) pub on the site, with more facilities.

Altermatively, the chain or Freeholder Publican is considering an offer from a developer to knock the lot down and whack down some flats for a tasty ££££.

In which case, why don't people come clean about these things ?

Put up a sign outside saying "Dear Customers. We're in the process of considering a £2million offer for our humble pub, from a Developer to build some flats. The offer is too good to refuse, and we are going to f**k off to live on a beach in Oz, so this gaff is shutting down. Cheers for your business."

At least it would be honest, and dispel rumours.

[RichardCranium]

Who is forcing this, and why, if it is a thriving business ?

NF has been giving us updates in TPD about this.

IIRC it is the Leicester University who have ideas to do something with the land.

Edits:
Link. de Montfort University.

[Zippy]

It's not Leicester Uni, it's De Montfort (used to be the Poly). The business owner doesn't want the place to close but it's been coming for a long time.

[NickFitz]

Edits:
Link. de Montfort University.

It's not Leicester Uni, it's De Montfort (used to be the Poly). The business owner doesn't want the place to close but it's been coming for a long time.

WTS.

(I almost panicked there; movement in the corner of my eye led me to think for a moment that some kind of insect had invaded the screen on my MacBook, but it turned out to be the top of the dancing banana poking over the fold )

The story runs thus: some months ago, DMU (De Motic University) announced that it wanted to demolish the Bowstring Bridge, the related arches, and the Pump and Tap public house so it could ruin the area even more ^H^H^H^H build a swimming pool.

The local community was immediately up in arms; there has been a campaign to save the bridge since the Council started making noises about it four or five years ago; and it was indeed a thing of the kind of beauty that would be appreciated by anybody who enjoyed James May's Meccano programme on the telly recently. Actually, lots of people who aren't geeks loved it, and prized it for the contribution its aesthetic character made to this part of town.

Faced with a kerfuffle, the City Council and DMU hastily backtracked: no decision had been made, it would be a long time before anything happened, there were no firm plans, and all those kinds of lies.

A few months later, a Council document was leaked to the local rag: negotiations had continued behind closed doors, and the Council was going to allow the demolition of the bridge by DMU. When challenged, the Council merely said that the discussions had been held in secret because of "commercial confidentiality".

(If your nose wrinkles with the stench of obviously corrupt activity at this point, then join the club. Although of course there can't have been anything of the kind, as Leicester City Council couldn't possibly be involved in a corrupt arrangement with the powers that be in De Monstrous University. To suggest otherwise might be actionable.)

So, the bridge was going, despite the wishes of the community. But what of the pub?

It seems that DMU and LCC didn't fancy fighting a war on two fronts: we were told that (guess what?) nothing had been decided, there might not be any need to demolish the pub (which dates to around 1846 IIRC), blah blah blah.

The problem was that DMU owned the land on which the pub sits, for various complicated reasons related to the owners' attempts to redevelop the bridge and the area a few years ago - they paid over a large sum to the authorities to obtain the rights to do so, but were then stymied by the authorities in all their plans. In the end this cost them so much that they had to relinquish said rights back to the Council, which immediately sold them to DMU.

It would be wrong of me to suggest that the Council and DMU were hand-in-glove on this and that the owners of the pub were stitched up like a kipper. I hardly need to add that the idea that the Council and DMU regard this community and their views with utter contempt is clearly not correct.

To get back to the narrative: it seemed for a while that the plan was to get rid of the bridge, let sleeping dogs lie for a while, then get rid of the pub: this is merely conjecture on my part, but it may have been thought that once the bridge was gone, nobody would be too bothered about the pub.

Unfortunately for them, it's not just some crappy old alehouse: if they knew anything about the neighbourhood they are desecrating (and their statements to the Press make it clear that they neither know nor care) they would have realised that the place is more a legend than a pub.

Once they did realise that they'd just have to go through the same stink twice, they decide to get it all over with, and announced near the end of October that the pub's lease (which those concerned had previously found reason to believe was safe for next couple of years, and possibly for the long term) would be terminated on 27 November.

So that's ten people out of work in time for Christmas, a fine community resource eradicated, a building of great architectural character demolished, and a thriving business closed down.

Oh, and for me, that's twenty-one years of memories that will just be memories, although I'll always have a three-stitch long scar by my right eyebrow to remember it by. I used to be assistant manager of that place you know. (I wish I'd seen that little bastard coming; but how was I to know it was his brother I'd just pulled off the other bloke?)

They justify their actions on the basis that the community would like a swimming pool, presumably to replace the one nearby that the Council knocked down the other year and sold to developers to make a shopping centre. This swimming pool will be owned by DMU, but supposedly they will allow normal people to use it. Dunno how that will work; I suspect it will be open to The Public every third Tuesday afternoon out of term.

I have no doubt that the land will lie empty for three years, after which they'll build student accommodation on it, as that earns money for DMU. I very much doubt that there will ever be a swimming pool - the supposed justification for this vandalism.

Twenty years ago I sometimes wondered if I was excessively cynical in thinking that greed, lust for power, and contempt for all of us were the defining characteristics of those politicians who obtain control of our world.

I now believe that I have been insufficiently realistic.

[threaded]

WTS.

<snip>

I now believe that I have been insufficiently realistic.

You're getting a Tescos.

HTH

(Remember you read it here first.)

[NickFitz]

You're getting a Tescos.

HTH

(Remember you read it here first.)

Although I think DMU can make even more money from student accommodation than from Tesco. God knows they need it if they're to cope with the ever-increasing number of students.

At the start of the current academic year they "temporarily" placed non-car-owning first year female students in the motel at LFE services on the M1. I know the access road to that service station well, and I'm dubious about walking down it in the daytime given its proximity to one of the worst estates in the city. To put young women in the position of having to walk down it alone at night is a gross dereliction of DMU's duty of care IMNSHO.

[TinTrump]

First I've heard/read about the Pump & Tap. Did a quick search and found excellent reviews; just the sort of pub I'd enjoy. Always saddens me to see such places disappear.

[norrahe]

The pub as we know it is disappearing, what we are being left with is mass produced wine bars, weatherspoons and the like or the bars we used to frequent for a decent pint have started peddling (sub par) food as a means to generate income.

Up to July this year there were 824 pub closures according to the LDC.

With a possible move from the government under pressure from the British medical council we will see increased tax levies on alcohol which will sound the death knell for even more businesses.

[Zippy]

First I've heard/read about the Pump & Tap. Did a quick search and found excellent reviews; just the sort of pub I'd enjoy. Always saddens me to see such places disappear.

It's a wonderful pub. You can go in there in a crowd or on your own.
They used to do free soup and bread on a Sunday, so you could go for a light lunch and a pint. My friend and I used to do the pub quiz and we won a couple of times - 12 pints and a box of crisps <hic>. And you could take your dogs/rats/parrots/whatever with you.

These are sad times indeed. Give it a good send off NF.

A very pissed off Zip.