[trebor]

Popped into the Ashes today, it has only been open since yesterday ( 28 Feb ) and is only open for drinks. The reason that there is no food is because the previous tenant left and took the fridges and freezers with him so new ones are on order and food will be available within the week. Apparently the outgoing tenant also swopped out some of the better chairs etc and replaced them with older ones from his other pub.

Had a decent chat to the new tenant Damon, he has persuaded the owning company to spend some money upgrading the kitchen and changing the entrance to the pub as there is currently no access for wheelchairs as steps have to be negotiated. I gave him the dates for our meets and he is keen for us to keep going so if you attend any of the meets please support the pub as much as you feel able to do so as we get use of the field for free.

Apparently the lounge side of the pub is a listed building but the bar side has been added on at some point in the past and is not listed. The company who own it all NewRiver have in recent years bought in another company to manage some of their pubs including the Ashes but they have not performed well and as a result a number of the pubs they managed have had more of a downturn than expected partly due to them letting new tenants without any experience take over and profits have tumbled. As a result the managing company have gone out of business and a new one taken over.

Damon has had pubs around Telford before mainly part of large chains such as “ Hungry Horse “ so he is used to producing food at reasonable prices, he also intends to get the outside bar up and running to save customers having to come into the pub to get a drink which in the summer months should be popular.

The next Nano social meet is on Tuesday 17 March which is in the week before the 1st Nano Meet on Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 March, and hope to see some of you there.