Campaigners hope to keep the Grennie open

6:30pm Tuesday 12th June 2012 in News

Campaigners hope to keep the Grennie open Campaigners hope to keep the Grennie open

CAMPAIGNERS are urging a brewery to change its mind over plans to sell a multi-award winning pub.

Adnams, which owns the British Grenadier, plans to sell the pub, in Military Road, after a drop in trade.

But the Colchester branch of the Campaign for Real Ale has launched a petition to save the pub, on the market for £250,000, amid fears it could be sold to developers.

“We cannot sit back and do nothing,” said Alan Wareham, branch chairman.

“We don’t even know if there is some sort of preservation order on the pub to stop a change of use application as there is a real worry it could be sold for homes.”

He added: “It would be a huge loss because it is a great community pub.

“We are concerned for the future of it as a pub, bearing in mind there will be a massive new development just across the road.”

Landlord Simon Foulds also claimed he had been told in July 2011 the pub, which won Camra Pub of the Year in 2008, would not be sold for at least five years.

“It did come as a bit of a surprise, to be told your pub is on the market,” he said.

“Now it is out of our hands but we can’t understand why the decision has been made, there is going to be 600 houses being built across the road.

“I’m not naive, I don’t expect trade to pick up dramatically overnight, but if we even got five per cent of the new people there, that would make it worth while.”

A spokeswoman for Adnams said: “We constantly review the Adnams pub estate and sometimes we have to take the difficult decision to sell on one of our pubs.”

She added the brewery planned to sell to a buyer which would continue to run it as a community pub.

To sign the petition, go to colchestercamra.org.uk/save-the-grennie.

Comments(20)

meddler1 says...
6:39pm Tue 12 Jun 12

What a shame. Exactly the sort of well run, community pub that we need to be preserving in Colchester, as opposed to the violent meat markets that the town is becoming renowned for.

Report this post »

Say It As It Is OK? says...
6:49pm Tue 12 Jun 12

As with all pubs, they are run as a business, if the local community feel strongly about keeping this pub open they should support it because nobody, in their right mind, can keep running any type of business unprofitably.

Report this post »

USAbloke says...
6:58pm Tue 12 Jun 12

if they are so concerned why don't the campaigners club together and buy/operate the pub themselves? perhaps then then will gain a greater understanding of the economics of running a pub as a business versus a charity

Report this post »

Boris says...
11:15pm Tue 12 Jun 12

Supermarkets should be banned from selling alcohol, then people would go out to pubs and either drink there or buy there to take home. Either way the pubs would benefit.
Yes, it would cost more to get drunk, and a good thing too. We should follow the Scots and impose a minimum price per unit. This too would help the pubs.

Report this post »

Boris says...
11:17pm Tue 12 Jun 12

per unit of alcohol, I meant.

Report this post »

TheCaptain says...
8:58am Wed 13 Jun 12

Nothing in the report states the pub loses money.

Report this post »

Sdapeze says...
1:00pm Wed 13 Jun 12

It's a lovely pub but that is not enough in this day and age. It doesn't make money. Why not club together and buy it? But it still wouldn't make money. People need to get a grip of the realities of life. Glib statements about stopping supermarkets selling alcohol are unhelpful. This is simply a sad sign of the times. Survival of the fittest, pure and simple.

Report this post »

greenbroker says...
1:19pm Wed 13 Jun 12

Adnams like some other breweries have a vested interest in restaurants/food. The 'Grennie' doesn't fit into their profile. Why Adnams are dithering, I don't know. They should sell it and it should be run as a cooperative.

Report this post »

Ritchie_Hicks says...
2:59pm Wed 13 Jun 12

Sdapeze wrote:
It's a lovely pub but that is not enough in this day and age. It doesn't make money. Why not club together and buy it? But it still wouldn't make money. People need to get a grip of the realities of life. Glib statements about stopping supermarkets selling alcohol are unhelpful. This is simply a sad sign of the times. Survival of the fittest, pure and simple.
Please clarify where you have obtained evidence that this business isn't profitable?

The business would, of course, become more profitable if the current tenants weren’t being pushed to the wall by a pubco who has taken their extortionate share of the profits yet failed (on many occasions) to carry out even the basic remedial work to the structure of this building.

Of course, you will argue that these details should have been contractually agreed prior to the tenancy being signed and then enforced by the tenants during its course, but given the mighty legal weight behind a company like Adnams that is, realistically, impossible for Linda & Simon. The fact is that Adnams have failed on numerous occasions to meet those promises. You only have to look at parts of the structure of the building to see that they have failed in their obligation to maintain the building. Yet I have no doubt if the tenants take them on they risk losing their livelihood through some sort of constructive eviction.

I do agree that the pub doesn’t fit into Adnams portfolio, but that is mainly due to Adnams short-sightedness over the past 5-10 years and certainly isn’t the result of a lack of effort or passion on behalf of the current tenants. Pop in for a pint and have a look yourself.

Report this post »

Sdapeze says...
4:01pm Wed 13 Jun 12

Linda and Simon run a brilliant, traditional, friendly, pub, whose history dates back to the beginnings of the Victorian barracks. This isn't about that. We can all be romantic about pubs but Adnams aren't a charity. They seemingly don't care about their tenants. They want profits. As to promises made by Adnams, show me any pubco that maintains its buildings as it should do. I'll put money up to a collective to save the Gren. What are the rest of you prepared to do?

Report this post »

The Dec says...
4:30pm Thu 14 Jun 12

This pub is in the Heart of new town & one of the only real ale pubs left. It doesn't deserve to be closed as new town is now up & coming in the property market. Anyone with any sense at Adnams should re-think, before it does them more harm.

Report this post »

BlueArmy01 says...
4:38pm Thu 14 Jun 12

As the chances of raising £250K or indeed even a fraction of that are practically zero, I guess the only course of action left is a realistic one, like signing a petition! Will it do any good? Are Adnam’s going to change their mind? Who knows! But it’s probably better than doing nothing and just accepting the inevitable!

I think the other Adnams Tied Houses in this Town have fared very favourably with promises of renovation work being carried out. This would seem an incredibly short-sighted decision by the brewery, with the impending housing development on Mersea/Military Rd.

Well run Community Pubs, like the Grennie, need Supporting and NOT SELLING. Otherwise the question posed on the banner in the picture could soon be very relevant – “Daddy, what’s a Pub??”!!

Report this post »

Sdapeze says...
5:50pm Thu 14 Jun 12

The only other Adnams pub in Colchester is the Bricklayers and that does excellent business for all the reasons that the Gren does not. If any of you actually knew the Gren you would know why Adnams want to get rid of it. No food, no parking, no room to expand, etc. Get real all of you. The only solution to saving this superb little pub is to buy it as a freehold without a tie and to run it as the Parricks do at the Oddie. The brewery tie is the killer here. They don't care about people, only profit. The same happened to the Brick and Tile near me last year. Same price, no takers, other than a property developer. It is now lying empty - another excellent community pub gone.

Report this post »

Sdapeze says...
5:59pm Thu 14 Jun 12

But thinking about the business potential, if I had £250k to spare, I could buy two two bedroom houses and rent them out at £550 a month. That's £1100 a month, £13200 a year. Could the pub sustain that or would I be better with two houses? Then there is rates, electric, maintenance, insurance, etc. It's not cheap to run a pub and Adnams are no charity.

Report this post »

Sdapeze says...
6:28pm Thu 14 Jun 12

Hospital Arms too!

Report this post »

BlueJay says...
10:31pm Thu 14 Jun 12

If Adnams had of invested in this pub some years ago, it would have been profitable. I feel it has held onto the building knowing that it would sell it on at a profit as part of its property portfolio, not giving two hoots about the community.

Report this post »

Ritchie_Hicks says...
8:30am Fri 15 Jun 12

Sdapeze wrote:
But thinking about the business potential, if I had £250k to spare, I could buy two two bedroom houses and rent them out at £550 a month. That's £1100 a month, £13200 a year. Could the pub sustain that or would I be better with two houses? Then there is rates, electric, maintenance, insurance, etc. It's not cheap to run a pub and Adnams are no charity.
Adnams don't pay the rates/electric/insur
ance etc - the tenants do.

The Brick and Tile is a country pub, not a town pub, and so not a good example.

And telling BlueArmy that he doesn't know the Grennie is laughable - he's had more pints in that place than you've had hot dinners...literally!

Report this post »

romantic says...
9:35am Fri 15 Jun 12

I go to the Grennie regularly, and it´s a proper pub run as it should be. Not sure that food would be the answer, nor even parking. The issue is a wider one for many similar pubs: how do we get people in? How do we get those who stay at home to come out to the pub? It is hard to compete when the supermarkets sell alcohol cheaply, and also so many other ways for people to spend their time. There are lots of people living close to the Grennie, and hundreds of new houses being built. Even if some of those people come in now and then, it boosts trade.

I don´t have a simple answer. Sdapeze is right that ideally it would be a freehold - but who is going to come forward with the money needed? A co-operative sounds great in principle, but maybe hard to set up and keep going in practice.

Adnams do not seem at all supportive of their pubs, which is a shame. They had a similar situation 2 or 3 years ago, which seemed to have been resolved, but no doubt there is a bean-pusher in head office who decides these things. Adnams should support their tenants, but instead, like all the other pub management companies, seem to prefer making the rent sky-high and then selling off at the first possible opportunity.

I hope the Grennie keeps going and gets more people in. If you live around there, go in. It´s not a squaddie pub, as you might imagine from the name, it´s a good friendly little local.

Report this post »

Sdapeze says...
3:59pm Fri 15 Jun 12

I was in there a couple of weeks ago. It is the perfect pub for those that like traditional pubs. But that isn't the issue. I offer £5000 towards a co-operative. Who's up for it? All we need is another 49 to match this.

Report this post »

Ritchie_Hicks says...
12:59pm Mon 18 Jun 12

Sdapeze wrote:
I was in there a couple of weeks ago. It is the perfect pub for those that like traditional pubs. But that isn't the issue. I offer £5000 towards a co-operative. Who's up for it? All we need is another 49 to match this.
Plus about £70K to bring the building up to standard....

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree