The Tharp Arms

It's Almost February...

2012-01-31T10:09:00.000Z

It's safe to say that January was a pretty dreary start to the year for many of us, but it's almost over and now is the time you'll hopefully all be starting to think about coming out of hibernation, your detoxes are almost over, and you'll be starting to think about the days getting longer and your social lives returning.

And hopefully, you'll be starting to think of where to spend your nights out.

February is a great month for getting going again and we're helping kick it off in style with some great guest ales being offered from Oakham Ales and St Austell's Brewery, and great offers on Greene King IPA (just £2.40 a pint) and Carlsberg (just £2.59). On top of that, the Six Nations Rugby kicks off this coming weekend and we'll be showing the matches live, with Scotland v England our priority match at 5pm on Saturday.

To keep the fun going on Saturday night, local singer Lewis Mokler will be performing in the bar after the rugby and, to make sure the January blues haven't addled those brain cells, our pub quiz will be on Sunday night at 8pm.

There's plenty more on offer as February gets going, so make sure you keep an eye on our website and Facebook pages regularly to find out what's going on!

Greene King IPA - £2.40 a pint

2012-01-19T14:10:00.000Z

Last week we took the unprecedented step of lowering the price of one of our premium draught beer products, Abbot Ale, by 5p a pint.

This week, we're going even further. With the support of our business partners Greene King, we're lowering the price of their flagship beer, IPA, by just over 7%. At £2.59, we believe our IPA was one of the most competitively priced around, but from now until the end of January we're dropping it to £2.40 a pint!

With options on our menu starting from £3.45, Greene King IPA at £2.40 a pint and Carlsberg at £2.59, we believe these great prices are a helpful way to get you through the start of the New Year and on our way to spring, and some brighter weather.

February will be upon us soon, and we're kicking that off with live music from local artist Lewis Mokler on Saturday 4th February, who'll be playing right after England's opening match against Scotland in the RBS Six Nations Rugby tournament, which we'll be showing live in both bars.

So why not come along and join us for a great atmosphere, great prices and great fun?

And remember, when you're here, scan the QR Code below (you'll see it around the pub) with your smartphone to go to our Facebook and check-in to let us know you've arrived.

Go on - scan it now so you can Like us on Facebook and keep up to date with forthcoming announcements!

Christmas Opening Hours 2011

2011-12-24T10:26:00.000Z

A quick note to let you all know our hours of opening over the festive period...

Christmas Eve - 12:00pm until *late*

Food served 12:00pm until 3:00pm / no food in the evening
Live music from Sam Brown - the fun starts at 7:30pm. Come and have a sing-along before you head home to get the last of that wrapping done.

Christmas Day - 12:00pm until 2:00pm

No food served. Join us for a Christmas Drink before your lunch. The pub will close at 2:00pm promptly.

Boxing Day - 12:00pm until 4:00pm

No food served.

Tuesday 27th December - 12:00pm until 10:00pm

Food served 12:00 until 3:00pm & 6:00pm until 8:00pm

Wednesday (28th), Thursday (29th) and Friday (30th)

Normal opening hours and food serving times apply

Saturday 31st December - 12:00pm until *late*

Food served 12:00pm until 3:00pm and then join us for live music to see in the New Year. Phil Crawford will be seeing out 2011 and singing in 2012! Entry is free.

Sunday 1st January 2012 - 12:00pm until 3:00pm

No food served. Join us for Hair Of The Dog...

Monday 2nd January 2012 - 12:00pm until 10:00pm

Food served 12:00pm until 3:00pm and then 6:00pm until 8:00pm

Tuesday 3rd January 2012 - 5:30pm until 10:00pm

No food served

Wednesday 4th January 2012 - normal hours resume

We look forward to seeing you over the Christmas period!

Not sure where - or who! - we are? Visit www.thetharparms.com for more information...

Now on Google Plus...

2011-11-08T09:05:00.000Z

Are we the first pub in the UK to get on Google+?

We have no idea. If not, we're probably *one of* the first to take advantage of Google's new social networking platform for businesses.

As of today, Google have opened up their own Social Networking service to businesses as well as individuals, the latter already having had access to the service for a little over three months.

Google hope that they'll be able to take on the might of Facebook with this latest step. For us, we've decided to add this page to our already extensive online coverage to ensure that all bases are covered. So, if you're a Google fan and use Google+ avidly, visit our profile and add us to your circles.

If, however, you prefer to stick with the traditional online services we use, all our information, and more, will always be available on our website or Facebook and Twitter - continue to follow us there!

Our Google+ page is very young, created just half an hour before this blog was written, so more information is yet to be added, but we'll get news, videos and pictures up there very soon for you.

November 2011

2011-11-03T13:59:00.002Z

It's amazing how often I go to try and update the blog and let you all know what's going on, and then time just slips away.

Already, we're three days in to November, two days away from our next event, a little over two weeks to the one after that, and I haven't yet said anything about any of it other than posting a Facebook Event for you all to see!

This year, November and December are already becoming nicely packed out, and table bookings for our forthcoming Christmas menu are coming through thick and fast.

It seems a bit odd to be writing the word 'Christmas' when outside the window the sun is shining bright and warm. This week, we've been working to get parts of the garden ready in advance of Saturday's fireworks party, and we could have been forgiven for thinking it was early May!

So, what's on the schedule for this month? Well, Saturday is Guy Fawkes' night so, as ever, the Chippenham Parish Council are supporting the annual fireworks and bonfire bash. The bonfire will be lit at 6:30 pm, with the fireworks display starting at around 7pm.

The event is free to enter, but please do help us with donations to the cost of the display if you can; collection buckets will be at the exit as you leave.

There'll be a barbecue on the go from 6pm and, after the display is finished, live music from the popular Lewis Mokler will be in the bar from 8pm.

Our guest ale for the weekend is from the Cains Brewery in Liverpool - why not treat yourself to a pint of their Bonfire Toffee?

The rest of the month is looking good too, and keep your diary clear for Friday 18th November; The Scruffy Dogs will be joining us in the pub to help raise money for Children in Need. In December we'll have our annual Christmas Quiz and Draw on Saturday 17th, with live music from Sam Brown on Christmas Eve and more live music to see 2012 in from Phil Crawford on New Year's Eve.

It's a busy couple of months - we look forward to you enjoying it all with us!

Meanwhile, we still need you to help us choose our guest ale for the remainder of this month. Pop along to our Facebook page to join in the vote. The choices are:

Oh, and don't forget it's our next monthly quiz on Sunday night, from 8pm...!

See you soon!

Jim Paice, MP - Official Photographs

2011-10-17T13:15:00.000+01:00

Here are a few of the official photographs of Friday's visit from local MP, Jim Paice.

Click here for a link to the full album.

Bar Billiards at The Tharp Arms

2011-10-14T09:46:00.002+01:00

This week has been quite exciting for us: not only are we having local MP Jim Paice work behind the bar for a couple of hours, but we've also had our Bar Billiards table installed.

We've been looking for something different to add to the pub's entertainment offering for a while, but we don't have space for a pool table - that would require almost one of our rooms to be used up just to allow access all around it - and we tend to find those fruit machines just a little bit anti-social; a Bar Billiards table seemed to be the best compromise, and it certainly proved popular on its first night of use!

We've located it near the main bar so that you can play and still chat with your mates, or get a mini pub triathlon going, with a round of darts, Bar Billiards and some Shove Ha'Penny...

Why not pop along and join in the fun?

If you want to find out more about the history of Bar Billiards, simply click here.

Jim Paice, MP, to work our bar...

2011-10-13T15:57:00.002+01:00

Our local MP, Jim Paice, will be working on our bar tomorrow afternoon between 1pm and 3pm, pulling pints and chatting with the punters.

Mr Paice is the MP for South East Cambridgeshire and is the Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He's looking to understand how current legislation is affecting pubs and wants to learn how the issues impact on local business and residents.

Jim Paice's website is: http://www.jimpaice.com

News also on the Cambridge News website: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/MP-aims-to-pull-the-punters-in-over-a-quiet-pint-11102011.htm

October. New look, new hours, live music...

2011-10-09T14:44:00.000+01:00

So here we are, already well in to October, and who could be forgiven for thinking it has been the middle of July? (Well, until this weekend that is. Suddenly, the true October weather has turned up, but it's been a great start to the month, with plenty of people taking advantage of the sun and our large beer garden!)

And there's a new look to our blog, too, thanks to the wacky designers at Google's Blogger service coming up with a new set of 'dynamic' templates. This is our default view, but if you don't like it you can simply choose from a the different viewing options under the blog's title at the top; let us know what you think.

October's traditionally a quiet month for the pub, and we tend to use it to get the house back in order after the summer and in advance of the Christmas & New Year party period. This year, we were also hoping to celebrate another stunning victory for England in the Rugby World Cup, but we've all been left rather deflated in that area, too.

Also, for Winter 2011, we've made a slight adjustment to our Sunday opening hours. Now that the cricket season is over and the darker, colder nights are upon us, we'll be closing on a Sunday evening somewhere between 8 & 9, depending on business. This isn't a negative issue and, if there are plenty of people in, we certainly won't be shutting the doors on you! But, as we have had to do several times this year, we've looked at where expenses lie and need to evaluate them when we can; Sunday nights during winter are often evenings where most people want to get an early night in advance of the week ahead, and we respect that, but it isn't advantageous to the business side of the pub to simply keep the place open and have the lights burning and the heat blasting when nobody is in.

So, on a Sunday - once the last of the evening custom has departed - we'll be closing the doors for the evening; this usually happens somewhere between eight pm and nine pm, but the first Sunday of every month is Quiz Night, and we'll always be open for that, and we're always open to suggestions: if you've got an idea for something you'd like to see us doing on Sunday nights through these quiet months, just let us know!

Talking of things that we are doing, last Sunday saw - obviously - the return of the Quiz Night, which was great fun, and in November we've got several events on for your entertainment, starting on Saturday 5th November with our annual fireworks party followed by live music from Lewis Mokler, who'll be singing in the bar. Entry is free to both events, but the fireworks are sponsored by the Parish Council and donations will be being accepted on the night to help fund next year's event.

We'll always keep you up to date with what's happening on our website and here on the blog, but feel free to also pop over to the pub's Facebook page to find out what other things are happening. Like our poll this month to see which guest beer you'd like to see on the pump! The choices for October are as follows:

	Abbeydale Brewery's Brimstone - 3.9%
	Batemans Brewery's Salem Porter - 4.7%
	Belhaven Brewery's Howell at the Moon - 5%
	Greene King Brewery's Ganghly Ghoul - 4.2%
	Hook Norton Brewery's Hooky Bitter - 3.6%
	Joseph Holt's Brewery Maple Moon - 4.3%
	None ... just stick with your IPA and Abbot Ale!

(Clicking on the above won't work, simply click here to be taken to the poll.)

We look forward to seeing you in the pub as winter draws on!

September 2011

2011-09-15T15:02:00.000+01:00

I'm a little late getting the September blog up and out to you but the summer has been pretty busy for us and catching up with admin seems to be taking a little while!

The big event for us this year was, as always, our annual August Bank Holiday music festival, and you can see what we got up to with our video compilation of the day:

Our young kitchen hand and barmaid, Jessika, also got the opportunity to sing with the headline band, Macca, and here's a video of her singing:

I'd like to thank all the staff who helped out on the day: Adam, Amy, Anne, Gemma and Jessika all got stuck in to make sure the day worked smoothly, and thanks also to our artists on the day: Richie Young, Phil Crawford, Lewis Mokler and Macca.

And then, before we knew it, it was September, the kids were back at school and summer was over!

Local singer Sam Brown popped in on Tuesday and did a short stint, practising some of his songs before heading back to university in Southampton until Christmas. Here's his version of American Pie, with the customers all joining in at key (and obvious!) points:

This month we're supporting Cancer Research UK with a go-karting challenge on Sunday 18th September followed by a barbecue back at the pub, so if you fancy supporting the teams head for the Red Lodge Karting Centre from 2pm on Sunday, or help them by dropping a donation on their JustGiving page here. If you leave a donation, make sure you make a reference to The Tharp Arms so we know to say thank you!

Our winter quizzes are back from next month, with the first one taking place on Sunday 2nd October from 8pm. Let us know if you're attending by visiting the events page on our Facebook site.

And finally, our guest ale for this month comes from the Castle Rock Brewery in Nottingham. Harvest Pale Ale is already selling well - come and join in the enjoyment.

Until next month...

Mark Daniels
Landlord - The Tharp Arms

The Winter Quiz Night Returns...

2011-09-06T09:44:00.000+01:00

Quiz nights start from October 2nd

Sitting here on an early September morning looking out of the window at a skyline that can only be described as November, I'm reminded that summer is ending and winter is arriving. And that means that the cricket season is coming to an end.

We'll be sad to see the teams from the regular cricket fixtures disappear from Sunday evenings, and that does mean our new, earlier Sunday closing time will be coming in to force, but it does also herald the return of the winter quiz night!

From October, the first Sunday night of every month will be quiz night, starting from 8pm. Make a note of it in your diaries, and pop along to see what changes we've made to the format...

It should be fun!

Let us know on Facebook if you're attending by clicking here: http://fb.me/Xo1IAMHy

Live music this Sunday!

2011-08-26T10:17:00.000+01:00

It's the August bank holiday Sunday and, as I type this, it's raining outside. Typical.

Hopefully, though, by Sunday the sun will be shining and we'll all be able to enjoy a bit of warmth as summer heads to an end!

This year, we have three live acts for you, starting at 5pm with Phil Crawford, followed by Lewis Mockler, and then finishing with our headline act, Macca from 7:30pm.

There'll be a barbecue and, with any luck, some sun shine so come along and join in the fun!

Alison's Birthday

2011-08-25T09:49:00.000+01:00

We've got a lovely big editorial in the Newmarket Weekly today, and we look forward to welcome new customers to the pub, but for today only - Thursday 25th August - there is a slight change to our food serving times.

Alison, our landlady and chef, is celebrating her birthday today and has just been surprised with some theatre tickets for this evening. Therefore, a reduced menu is on offer today and our lunch serving times are reduced slightly from 12 - 2 for today only.

All normal service will resume tomorrow, and don't forget to join us on Sunday 28th August for our live music and barbecue extravaganza!

NASA retires shuttle; Tharp Arms retires cellar cooling...

2011-07-22T12:35:00.000+01:00

In a vain effort to link our tiny rural pub to the intergalactic behemoth that is NASA, I couldn't help noticing yesterday as NASA landed its last ever Space Shuttle, Atlantis, that there's a kind of synergy between the Space Shuttle's thirty year mission and the life span of our cellar cooling system.

In 1981, the first Shuttle launched ... and Greene King installed a 'state-of-the-art' cooling system in to the pub's cellar.

Yesterday, three decades on, the Atlantis brought to an end NASA's current space program and, today, our thirty year old cooling system is being replaced.

The demise of the Shuttle program is a bad thing; the replacement of our cooling system is a good thing. At thirty years old, it spends fifteen hours a day ineffectively spinning the fans and draining the power reserves of East Anglia. At thirty years old, the Space Shuttles are still capable of taking man in to space.

But, while NASA don't have a replacement - yet - to get their astronauts to the other side of our atmosphere, today a group of men are man handling in to place a new cooling system that, I'm promised, will be far more effective. And efficient.

So there you go then: somehow, I've managed to find a link, albeit tenuously, between our eighteenth century pub and interstellar space craft.

Thursday 21st July ... 2005

2011-07-21T01:25:00.003+01:00

2191 days ago; or 313 weeks. It’s difficult to determine whether that sounds a long time ago, or not, isn’t it?

On Thursday 21st July 2005, the sun rose at 5:04a.m. GMT, and set at 9:03p.m.* Within those fifteen hours and fifty nine minutes a lot of people got on with their everyday lives, but my wife and I put our eldest son - then five years old - on to the school bus and our youngest - aged just two - into his daycare facility, and then moved in to our pub.

However you choose to look at time, it was six years ago today that we made the biggest life-changing decision that we could possibly think of. Up to that point we lived in a nice, if mildly compact, three-bedroom terraced cottage on the opposite side of the road to pub we now run.

My career was in the world of Internet software; my wife’s was mostly housewife, with a part-time job at the new Waitrose store in Newmarket.

It was a straight-forward, pretty ordinary life for a young family of four. And then one day I got bored, learned that the landlord of the pub was selling up his tenancy, and decided it would be a jolly good idea to have a career change.

Thirty-three is a pretty young age to have a mid-life crisis, but having been made redundant at the end of 2004 I was struggling to settle in to my new job as a Sales Manager for a small IT company and was looking for a new challenge. This, it seemed to me, was it. And three million, one hundred and fifty five thousand and forty minutes on, it still seems like a good idea, if perhaps a tad harder than it was a few years ago.

I’ve always been ambitious, always looked for the next opportunity and, to this day, still am and do - we never know what’s round the corner and we should never be afraid to try and learn something new. So what, after all this time, have I learned from running my own pub business?

I was talking with some customers about this very subject before sitting down to write this piece and one thing always stands out to me when I think about what I know now compared to then: up to the end of 2004, I was a Business Development Manager in an Internet software distribution company. My job meant managing a large area of retail and corporate clients selling, through their channel, software solutions for Employee Internet Management and website analysis and statistics to companies both small and large. This involved travelling around the country and, occasionally, others making sales pitches, presentations and training courses.

Despite all those audiences and individuals met in conferences and sales meetings, I have never learned more about people than I have done standing behind my bar, just watching people interact. I wish that ten years ago I’d had some of the skills and understanding of people I have now!

But things have changed, as they always do; even in the short time I’ve been here this industry has changed, and we struggle to cope with it. Many simply don’t like to evolve, to move on, to face challenges from a different angle. When I started out, I didn’t think for one moment that I would have the opportunity to get my voice heard, to see myself in print in publications such as The Publican, the Morning Advertiser, the BIIBUSINESS magazine and, now, InaPub News. Over the years I’ve also been quoted in Private Eye and the Business Section of The Times and, for a short while last year, I even got to have a bit of a feature on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Breakfast Show as their “voice of Strictly Come Dancing.”

If I’d not bought in to my pub, none of that would have happened. As Doc Brown says to Marty McFly at the end of the Back To The Future trilogy, “your future hasn’t been written yet.”

I always try to remember that, despite the adversities we face. I’m still enjoying my pub, but I’m also excited to find out what the next 189’302’400 seconds will bring...

* sunrise data sourced from WolframAlpha.com

There's plenty more where that came from...

2011-07-12T08:53:00.002+01:00

We've never had guest ales sell quite like it - first, last Thursday, we put the delicious Trelawny from the St Austell Brewery on sale and it had sold out by the close of business on Friday and then on Sunday we put a barrel of Woodforde's Wherry on as we opened at midday, only for it to have completely sold out by six p.m.

But don't worry - or don't Wherry, even! - as there's plenty more where that came from. Thanks to the popularity of the Woodforde's beer we've got quite a few barrels of that turning up on our delivery today, along with Hook Norton's Haymaker.

So if you like your ale, you better get down here and have a pint or two. It's proving popular...

New Hours ... And More!

2011-07-04T10:22:00.002+01:00

New opening hours, new food serving hours, new guest ales, the Morris Men and the Silverstone Grand Prix. It's all going on this month, and it's only week one...!

So we're back from our holiday, fresh & ready to hit the summer, and the first - and most important - announcement to make is that from today we are changing the hours that the pub is open!

New Hours

The pub is currently closed on a Monday during the day, opening at 5:30pm until 11pm; we are replicating this on Tuesdays.

However, from Wednesday the pub will be open all day from 12:00pm until 11:00pm - this will happen Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and there are no changes to our opening hours on Saturdays. So our opening hours now look like this:

Monday & Tuesday - 5:30pm until 11:00pm
Wednesday - Friday - 12:00pm until 11:00pm*
Saturday - 11:30am until 11:00pm
Sunday - 12:00pm until 10:00pm*

Food

We have been monitoring our food sales and demand for food versus staffing etc. and have decided to stop serving food on Monday and Tuesday evenings; however, food will be available on these evenings if pre-booked. So, our new food serving hours are as follows:

Monday & Tuesday - pre-booked tables only
Wednesday - Saturday: 12:00pm until 3:00pm / 6:00pm until 9:00pm
Sunday - 12:00pm until 2:30pm

We believe these new opening hours and food serving times provide the best balance in growing the business while continuing to manage the costs of the business. If anybody does have any concerns or questions about these changes, please do drop us a line via the Contacts page on our website: http://www.thetharparms.com/contact-us/

Morris Men

This Thursday is our annual visit from the Devil's Dyke Morris Men, who'll be here from 7:45pm - why not let us know you're coming by clicking on the event in our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179801218744055

St Austell Trelawny 3.8%

We've got some great ales coming up in the summer, starting this Thursday - in time for the Morris Men - with St Austell's Trelawny and followed up quickly by Woodforde's Wherry! Our guest ales often sell out quickly so get in early for a great taste.

And Finally... Silverstone!

There's so much going on to get the summer ready and much more to keep you up to date with, so make sure you keep checking our blog, Facebook and Twitter pages to ensure you haven't missed out. But, in the meantime, it's the British Grand Prix this Sunday - why not join us; we'll be showing it in both bars so we can all cheer on Jenson Button this weekend!

Your Royal Wedding Guest List Name…

2011-04-28T21:36:00.001+01:00

If you’re joining us tomorrow to watch the wedding, eat some wedding cake, take part in the Chippenham Village Olympics, have a barbecue and then enjoy the Rock and Royal concert by The Reverbs, you better make sure you know your Royal Wedding Guest List Name.

Simply work it out using the algorithm below, then let us know in the Comments section what your name is!

Start with either Lord or Lady: your forename is the first name of one of your grandparents; your surname is double-barrelled, starting with your first pet's name followed by the street you grew up in…

To give you a hint, our landlord Mark’s name is: Lord Handel Orko-Langdale.

PS: Even if you’re not attending, you can just take part for fun!

Easter Specials!

2011-04-22T11:12:00.001+01:00

The sun is shining, the weather’s hot, and everything’s shaping up for everybody to come and sit in their bikinis in the beer garden…! (Well, okay, maybe not quite… we’re nowhere near the beach, after all.)

But on hot days like the next four are shaping up to be, what better than to quench your thirst with some of our new drinks deals?

You can have a Cheeky V Pitcher for just £10.00, or a pitcher of PIMM’s for £15:00. Or why not try a Spicy Spring Bomb (Morgan’s Spiced and Red Bull) for £3:00 or one of our new Smirnoff Vodka flavours? We’ve got Lime or Green Apple available, and both go deliciously with Schweppes Lemonade.

If you’re more inclined to drink Real Ale we’ve got several guests joining our normal Greene King IPA or Abbot Ale options, and over the next two bank holiday weekends you’ll be able to enjoy a pint of London Glory, Tolly English Ale or, in celebration of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding, Greene King’s specially produced Celebration Ale.

There’s so much going on over the next two weeks, we hope you’ll pop in and join us!

Royal Weddings, Barbecues and a bit of a Sing Song…

2011-04-21T10:25:00.001+01:00

While my wife is looking forward to this weekend with some ill-concealed excitement (Lent is coming to an end and she can finally consume chocolate and alcohol again) the rest of the country is looking forward to the fact that it is the first of two back-to-back four-day weekends, and so far the weather forecast on my smartphone is looking good.

We’re open all day every day for the next four days* (and even have the pleasure of welcoming back our original barmaid Megan for a couple of shifts this weekend; it’s been almost four years since she last got behind the bar and the till has changed a bit…) and we’ve got a couple of guest ales (including the ever-popular London Glory) to complement our usual IPA and Abbot line up in celebration of St George’s Day on Saturday.

There’ll be bunting and hot cross buns galore, and then we barely have chance to rest before it’s time to do it all again!

Next weekend sees the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, a television extravaganza that is apparently going to pull in two billion viewers worldwide. I was nervous in front of just fifty selected guests; imagine trying to get your vows out with so many guests at your wedding?!

Again we’ll be open all day every day for that four day weekend* and Greene King have supplied us with a special Celebration Ale for next weekend in honour of the happy couple. Friday also sees the Chippenham Village Olympics take place, a chance for everybody to get together, have a picnic and throw a welly or two around; the events start at 2:30 on the football field.

And when you’re done in the three-legged race, we’ll be lighting the barbecue at around 6:00pm and local village band The Reverbs will be playing live in the beer garden. Later on I’m sure we’ll be able to encourage the band to move inside as the darkness falls and we’re guaranteed an excellent day and evening of food and entertainment.

I hope you’ll be able to join us for the Easter and Royal Wedding holidays; I suspect I’ve got many hours behind the bar coming up!

Mark Daniels
Licensee – The Tharp Arms

* we will be closed on the lunch time of the Tuesday following each bank holiday; open as usual in the evenings.

Carlsberg & IPA Price Changes 2011

2011-04-16T12:12:00.001+01:00

Carlsberg & IPA

Price Changes 2011

Since May 2009 we have been working with Greene King to maintain competitive prices on our most popular products: Carlsberg & IPA. This has meant that we have consistently been able to offer prices on these products lower than when we first took on the pub in 2005.

However, with the recent increases in both VAT and alcohol duty and the ongoing increases in utility costs, the £2.45 p/pint price point for these products is no longer viable.

We have been working closely with Greene King to continue to try to offer you the best price possible on your favourite products and have come to a new agreement with our business partner that we believe continues to offer the best value for your enjoyment.

Therefore, we must advise you that from Monday 18^th April 2011, the price for a pint of Greene King IPA and Carlsberg will be adjusted to:

£2.59

We hope you understand the need for us to make this change and thank you for your continued support.

Mark & Alison Daniels
Licensees: The Tharp Arms

March…

2011-03-02T10:48:00.001Z

Isn’t the year speeding by? I mean, it’s March already and I’ve barely had time to look at the pub’s blog and think up things to write!

So, let’s get the bad news out of the way first. As ever, at this time of year, Greene King make their annual price rises. The good news is that our Carlsberg and IPA products will continue to remain at the same great price of £2.45 a pint*, but the bad news is that pretty much all other products will see an increase in price.

However, March is always Budget month, too, and so we’ve made the decision to sit on Greene King’s price rises until the Budget has been announced.

We will endeavour, where we can, to continue to maintain as competitive pricing as we possibly can, and we remain committed to being the best value pubs in the area. With great quality beers and food at great prices, I’m sure you’ll agree!

So price rises are coming, but the good news is that so is summer … we hope! After what has been one of the longest and coldest winters for decades, we’re all looking forward to a bit of warmth and sunshine. Spring will start to bring longer and warmer days and there’s plenty happening over the coming months to entertain you.

Starting, of course, this Sunday with the monthly quiz! We hope you’ll be able to join us from 8pm, where the questions – I’m sure – will be slightly easier to understand than last month’s!

On the sporting front, there’s the conclusion to the Six Nations, with England in a very strong position at the top of the leader board, and the Formula One season gets under way later this month too. The Bahrain Grand Prix has been postponed due to the troubles in the Middle East, meaning that the season doesn’t get under way until March 27th – the same weekend that the clocks spring forward!

And don’t forget that between now and the end of March, if you check in on either FourSquare or Facebook – and show your phone to a member of staff – you’ll receive 10% off your bill at the end of the night**.

Before you know it, it’ll be April, Easter, and the Royal Wedding…

I look forward to seeing you all in the pub as the month goes on!

Mark J Daniels
Licensee – The Tharp Arms

* £2.45 special offer is on pints only; half pints are £1.30 – half the price of a non-discounted pint of Carlsberg or IPA.
** 10% discount does not apply to Carlsberg or Greene King IPA, both of which currently remain on special offer.

February: Six Nations, Quizzes and that day we all forget…

2011-02-04T10:30:00.001Z

Rugby, quizzes, and a little bit of romance…

How’s your diary looking for February?

If you thought it was going to be a quiet month, then think again. Tonight sees the start of rugby’s RBS Six Nations, with Wales taking on England at the Millennium Stadium and full coverage being shown on BBC from 7:45pm; therefore it’s on in our bar too!*

All the Six Nations matches will be shown live in the pub throughout February and March, and if you need to plan your diary for the next few weeks then you can either visit the RBS Six Nations website or see their fixtures list below.

And after all the rugby, why not end the weekend by taking part in our monthly Tharp quiz? The questions kick off at eight pm.

February is also the month of lurve, and this year the Valentine’s festivities are on a Monday. There’ll be a Valentine’s menu on all weekend, from Friday 11th until Monday 14th, so why not give us a call and book a table for two?

However you choose to spend February, we hope you have a good one and look forward to seeing you in The Tharp Arms over the coming weeks.

Mark Daniels – Licensee

*Please note, we are unfortunately unable to sell food on the evening of Friday 4th February.

Burns Night 2011

2011-01-25T09:31:00.001Z

Today is apparently the birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns, and so tonight we’ll be toasting him with a glass of whisky or two.

We’ve got a selection of whiskies on offer this evening, including Talisker, Highland Park, Auchentoshan and Glenkinchie amongst many others and, from 7pm, all will be on a fixed price of £2 per 25ml dram for the evening.

And, if you fancy something slightly different, we’ve got the Chapter 6. whisky from the English Whisky Company and Yamazaki from Japan’s Suntory distillery. (Although I’m very aware that my local Scottish friends will call me a Sassenach for putting such products on the bar…)

There’s no Haggis, no Neaps and Tatties, and no bagpipers (although I might put a Scottish track or two on the juke box), but feel free to bring along Scottish treats to share around the bar. (I already know there’s some Scottish Tablet being made…)

So, if you fancy popping out on a Tuesday night to raise a glass to a 252 year old Scottish poet, why not pop along to The Tharp Arms and join in the fun?

The VAT rise ... does not affect Carlsberg and IPA!

2011-01-03T20:39:00.005Z

From tomorrow, Tuesday 4th January 2011, the Government will impose an increase of 2.5% in VAT on all VATable products.

This will take the VAT from its current figure of 17.5% to 20% and will mean, in real terms, that a pint of beer currently costing £3.00 will increase to £3.06.

Unfortunately, there is little we can do to avoid this increase. As I'm sure all our customers are aware, we try at The Tharp Arms to keep our prices as fair and as affordable as possible, even on our most premium products, but from tomorrow we will have no choice but to apply these increases to our current pricing structure.

However, our Business Partners - Greene King - have kindly continued to support us on our Love Your Local pricing policy for Carlsberg, IPA and Corona products. This means that we will continue to be able to offer you these products at the great price of £2.45 a pint (or bottle, in the case of Corona), regardless of the VAT increase!

We'd like to thank Greene King for continuing to see value in this promotion and for agreeing to support us on maintaining the price and we hope that this means you'll still be able to join us regularly for great fun and a relaxing atmosphere!

We look forward to seeing you all throughout 2011.

Happy New Year!

New Dining Room and Bar…

2010-12-04T13:34:00.001Z

When you peer in through the pub’s windows, you’ll see a bit of a change has taken place. On Thursday evening, we opened our Christmas Dining Room and Bar, moving the dining area from the small room at the rear of the pub and putting it in to what was the Public Bar.

We’ve been contemplating this move for some time and, with most of our customers using the Lounge Bar on a frequent basis for drinking and socialising, the Public Bar was finding itself left empty more and more frequently.

The change to making this room the Dining Room and Bar gives us the flexibility to seat more diners, whilst still leaving us space in that room for those who wish to enjoy a quiet drink in there, while increasing the space in the Lounge Bar through to what was the dining area to give a great area for socialising in front of the roaring fire and enjoying the new games room.

The dart board has been moved to this new area and a new television has been mounted on the wall, allowing us to leave it flat against the wall for day-to-day use, or to swing it out for better viewing during big television sporting events.

After Christmas a smaller telly will be put back in to the dining room to give us more flexibility during big events in 2011, including Rugby’s Six Nations and World Cup Events plus the Royal Wedding.

It’s been three years since we made any major changes to the layout of the pub and we believe this is the perfect way to move forward and ensure that this local village pub continues to thrive throughout 2011. Please join us to enjoy the changes!

Events in December 2010:

Sunday 5th December – quiz night from 8pm

Saturday 18th December – Christmas Quiz

Friday 31st December – New Year’s Eve

Also – we will be having a Christmas Carol singalong, date to be confirmed.

Fire Alarm Installation

2010-11-24T09:00:00.001Z

In order to make sure we remain compliant with current fire regulations, we’re currently having a new fire alarm and smoke detection system installed at the pub, plus emergency lighting and fire doors.

Needless to say, there’s a bit of building work going on at the moment. Most of this is happening in the background, but there will be a bit of noise for a few days and occasionally engineers will be walking around.

The contractors are working with us to ensure they work around our trading hours, but we’d like to take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience or disruption that might take place when you visit; we are aiming to keep this to a minimum wherever possible and hopefully all the work will be completed by early next week.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

What’s on This Weekend…

2010-11-04T15:18:00.002Z

We’ve been terribly lax in keeping the blog up to date with what’s on at the pub lately, so let’s try and rectify that now with a very quick update of what we’ve got in store for you this weekend!

The big event of the weekend is hardly going to go unnoticed in the village: it’s Guy Fawkes’ Night on Friday night and so it’s the annual fireworks display, this year kindly sponsored by Chippenham Village Parish Council. Kevin Pallant and Terry Cross will, as always, be lighting the display from the safety of the field behind the pub and all the fun kicks off at 7pm.

Please don’t go up to Chippenham Park. We know that the banner has been placed on their wall, where it was felt it would get the most attention from passing traffic, but the event will still be taking place behind The Tharp Arms.

Entry this year is free so please feel free to bring along as many friends and relatives as you’d like. However, should you wish to contribute towards the cost of the fireworks, collection tins will be available on the bar and Mark and Adam will be collecting any donations at the entrance to the display. All contributions generously made will go directly towards the costs of putting on the event.

To help keep you feeling warm and toasty this weekend, our guest ale is from Greene King’s Westgate Brewery. Fireside is a mellow, fruity winter warmer ale that’s sure to delight. We last had this beer on our pumps about three years ago and it proved to be incredibly popular.*

Finally, it’s that time of the month again. Sunday night is quiz night and we’ve had some fantastic teams play over the last couple of months, and some great prizes for the winners. So why not pop along on Sunday evening and see if you can beat the best. Questions start at 8pm.

* Fireside will be on sale from Friday 5th November, priced at £2.95 a pint.

Just £2 a pint on Hallowe’en…

2010-10-28T14:40:00.001+01:00

Did you know that from Saturday, 30th October to Saturday 6th November this year it is British Pub Week? Sponsored by companies such as the British Institute of Innkeepers, the BBPA, Sky Television and several Members of Parliament, the event has just one aim: to unite the nation in celebrating all that is great and good about pubs.

And British Pub Week manages to encompass two great days in our diary: Hallowe’en and Chippenham Parish Council’s Fireworks display on Friday 5th November in the field behind the pub.

As if that wasn’t enough, anybody getting in to the spirit and dressing up in some ghoulish costume when they visit the pub will get a pint of IPA or Carlsberg or a glass of wine for just £2.00!

So join us all next week and get in to the, ahem, spirit of things…

October – What’s On…

2010-10-06T09:35:00.001+01:00

I’m a bit late with getting the October “What’s On At The Tharp” blog out, so I apologise for that, but we’re here at last!

Normally, we’d have a quiz on the first Sunday of the month but last weekend it didn’t happen. If you’ll forgive me for name dropping for a moment, my uncle and aunt – Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee – renewed their wedding vows on Sunday and so I went to a big party to celebrate the occasion and found myself in the company of Jodie Marsh, Lembit Opik and the entertaining legend that is Rolf Harris.

It was a great night, but of course meant that we couldn’t run the quiz here. So, in order that nobody misses out on their favourite monthly Sunday night event, we’re holding the quiz this weekend instead. It all kicks off from 8pm so why not join us? Now that the Cricket season is over and the nights are drawing in, our Sunday quizzes are a great way of ending your week. It costs just £1 a head and it’s all for fun – and, of course, the pride of your team!

Speaking of Cricket, it’s the Chippenham Cricket Club’s end-of-season disco/dance on Saturday 16th October and we’ll be doing the bar for them at the Village Hall, so if you’re a supporter of the local club I hope to see you there.

And, being October, it’s that month where the weather turns a bit sour, the clocks go back, the nights get longer and the ghosts and ghouls come out to play.

Hallowe’en falls on a Sunday this year and we’d like you to dress up for the occasion! Anybody dressing up will be entitled to great discounts on our Sunday lunch menu and drinks* will be available from just £2.00 a pint / small glass of wine. More information will be on this blog shortly!

Meanwhile, I hope you have a great October, whatever the weather brings, and look forward to seeing you in The Tharp Arms again soon!

Mark J Daniels
Licensee – The Tharp Arms

* selected brands only

New menu for autumn…

2010-09-24T09:57:00.001+01:00

It’s that time of year again … everybody’s finished their summer holidays, children have gone back to school (yippee!), the sun – what we saw of it – has gone and, as I type, the rain is falling outside. It’s traditional for people to quieten down their social lives for a little bit at this time of year because, I’m afraid I have to say it, Christmas is only just around the corner; in fact, it’s three months tomorrow until Santa tries squeezing his sack down your chimney.

But as I sit in my new office at the top of Tharp Towers, watching the rain fall on the road outside and musing over whether to get in the garden and see if the new log splitter can actually break some of that wood outside, thoughts are turning to what’s new at The Tharp Arms for autumn.

This week, we added a Japanese whisky to our malt shelf: the Yamazaki single malt complements our range of whiskies, including one from The English Whisky distillery and many fine Scottish single malts. Distilled at Japan’s oldest distillery, this fine, smooth single malt helps add that ‘something a bit different’ to the end of a meal, or a fun evening in the pub.

And talking of meals, we really should get round to announcing that, from today, there’s a new look to our menu for autumn. As well as including our traditional Tharp favourites, including Ali’s “You’ve Been Tharped” home-made chilli, our new menu also features Ali’s “Giant Yorkies”, filled with mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables and a selection of fillings to choose from, our “Pie Wedge” and a choice of other home-made options including, for the brave, Jungle Curry.

Prices on our menu range from £4.45 to £8.95 and there’s plenty of choice for everybody’s taste buds and, after a break for the summer, this weekend sees the return of our great Sunday Roasts!

So it might be miserable weather outside but, if you’re looking for a great place to eat this autumn, why not pop along and try out some of our great new recipes?

I might even have got the log splitter out and that roaring fire going again!

Facebook Discussion Board

2010-09-15T10:05:00.001+01:00

We’ve added a discussion board to our Facebook profile for those of you who want to get more involved in the pub, events we’re going to hold (or have held), beers we’re going to put on … and so on and so forth!

To take part in the discussions, simply log on to Facebook, go to our profile page and click on the Discussions tab at the top of the page.

We’ll accept discussions on (almost) any subject and we’ve left it open for you to be able to start new topics as well as join in with existing ones. Feel free to make suggestions as you go along (polite ones, of course!) and get more involved in the development and future of your favourite pub! (Us, of course!)

We use Facebook to announce guest beers, changes to the menu, upcoming events, and photographs of things that have happened in or around the pub, and most of our customers are already on Facebook. It makes sense, then, to add this new feature to our profile page for everybody to get involved with.

We hope you make use of it, and please let us know your thoughts!

Bank Holiday Apology

2010-09-15T09:43:00.001+01:00

It’s not nice when you find out you’ve upset somebody, especially when that had never been the intention in the first place, but it seems that our party on August Bank Holiday did generate a complaint made to the council about noise.

Obviously, when we decided to hold our annual Bank Holiday Sunday event, and coincide it with Ali’s fortieth birthday, we knew the event was going to be bigger than those in the past and we knew it was going to be noisier, which was why we made extra efforts to make sure every house in the village got a special notice about it, and that it was printed up in the newsletter in plenty of time. We also checked with the council and obtained the appropriate licenses in advance, and were at pains to ensure that our last band, the ever-popular Macca, were finished by eleven p.m.

The Tharp is normally a quiet village local and we want those in Chippenham to be proud of the pub and to use it – without such support the pub would not be able to survive and that would have a dramatically negative effect not just on the pub or my family itself, but on the immediate economy and the people who use us. The annual summer party is our way of saying thank you to everybody who supports us during the year and last year’s event, with just the one band playing in the garden, and this year’s event with three bands have proven more popular than anything we have ever done before.

But we do always try to be mindful of those around us who aren’t such fan of the pub and are always careful to ensure we don’t step outside the boundaries of our business where possible. In return, we hope that people will approach us with any concerns they have before approaching the local council, so that we have the opportunity to make restitution or give explanation before we are called to task by the authorities.

The August Bank Holiday events have proven really popular and we are hoping to do something similar again next year. After our discussions with the council this week there should be no reason why this can’t happen again in 2011, but we promise we will be more attentive to the needs of those around us when sorting out the format of next year’s event.

In the meantime, we’re slowly putting things together for events over the coming months, including Hallowe’en and Bonfire Night, so make sure you keep an eye on the pub’s boards and website for more information!

We look forward to seeing you all in the pub again soon.

Sky Sports is no more

2010-08-31T13:55:00.001+01:00

There’s an old saying that I’ve heard quoted over the years: “the happiest day of my life was the day I bought my boat. The second happiest was the day I sold it.”

Having spoken to many boat owners over the years, it seems they love the idea of having a boat – I know I certainly do! – but then they realise just how much it costs and soon the romance fails and they can’t wait to get rid of it.

This emotion can, unfortunately, be shared amongst the many publicans who have recently seen their commercial contracts with Sky TV increase substantially and today is our ‘second happiest day of our life’. I thought I better explain what has happened.

Nine months ago we had Sky TV installed in the pub for the purposes of being able to show live football and other sporting events to our customers. This was supported generously by Greene King, who felt that we might be able to build up trade off the back of having the facility.

Unfortunately, this hasn’t really worked and, whilst Sky Sports has been popular with many of you, it has been difficult to fund Sky’s exorbitant charges and continue to develop the pub too. Recently, Sky decided that they need to re-evaluate their pricing structure and this unfortunately meant that our bill with them increased by a further thirty percent. They also switched off Sky Sports 2, which we had been receiving up to that point.

Our frustration was further exacerbated by Sky’s decision to then show the first came of the Barclays Premier League – Tottenham v Man City – on the channel they’d just taken off us. In order to get this extra channel meant paying Sky even more money and, unfortunately, we know that there is no way we would be able to support this.

Therefore, after a lot of communication with Sky themselves and airing my views in my column on The Publican magazine’s website, Ali and I made the decision to cancel the contract with Sky and from today the channels are no longer available to us for commercial broadcast.

We appreciate that this will be a disappointment to many of you but hope that you’ll understand why we have come to this decision. If Sky see their way in the future to putting together a more practical and affordable package for public houses – especially small village ones like ours – then we will be more than willing to look at putting it back in to the pub again but, in the meantime, I’m afraid we’ll just have to put up with keeping the scores on the computer screen behind the bar!

Still … if anybody feels like contacting Sky and complaining on our behalf, we’ll be more than grateful ;-)

Mark J Daniels
Landlord – The Tharp Arms

Sunday 29th August – beer and music

2010-08-24T14:09:00.001+01:00

The weekend is fast approaching, the stills have arrived to set the beer festival up on, and the bands are waiting in the, well, car park I suppose.

This week it’s Ali’s birthday, and it’s that one that should be uttered in hushed tones: the big four zero. As I write, she’s enjoying the last day of her thirties by … ironing my clothes for the next couple of days.

But, when we get back from a couple of days break, it’ll be time for the bank holiday weekend … and that means it’ll also be time for our big bash on Sunday to help celebrate her birthday.

The beers have arrived today for the beer festival and in our garden we’ll be serving up delights such as Sun Dance, Morland’s Original and Greene King’s special ale, St Edmunds. We’ll also have a Mild on and Hardy’s & Hanson’s Bitter, plus several others.

The beer festival kicks off at midday and then the barbecue and live music in the car park begins at four o’clock, with The Lame Dogs and Scruffy Dogs getting the party started before our headlining band, Macca, takes to the stage at eight p.m.

The weather forecast for Sunday is ‘changeable’ so it might be worth bringing a rain mac with you, but regardless it’ll be a good time. It rained during last year’s festivities but failed to dampen everybody’s spirits; this year the party’s bigger and better so let’s make it a good one!

Look forward to seeing you all on Sunday.

Mark Daniels
Landlord – The Tharp Arms

Found - black cat.

2010-08-22T14:39:00.000+01:00

This is 'Guinness', the nickname we've affectionately given this cat that has appeared in our garden this weekend. Unfortunately, he's missing his collar so we have no idea who he belongs to and the little fella seemed somewhat thin and quite hungry.

'Guinness' seems to have a friendly nature and has taken well to the affections being lavished upon him by Malachy and Jacob, but we're sure he comes from a good home and his family is probably missing him so if Guinness is your cat please give us a call at The Tharp Arms on 01638 720234.

Bank Holiday Party

2010-08-16T12:28:00.001+01:00

It looks like I’m not going to be able to get away with buying a bunch of wilted Esso petrol station flowers and a Tesco value birthday card to celebrate Ali’s birthday this year. Despite my protestations of poverty, she is quite keen to – repeatedly – point out to me that she only turns forty once.

And therefore we must have a party.

So, as the August bank holiday weekend is traditionally our excuse for a party anyway, we’ve put together something slightly different for your entertainment this year.

Alison’s big thing this year has been music, challenged – as she has been – by Barmaid Julia to see if she can see forty different bands in this calendar year. She’s achieved a great deal of this simply by getting all sunburned at Glastonbury a couple of months ago, but enjoyed herself so much that she’s decided to have a mini music ‘festival’ at the pub to celebrate her entry in to middleagedom.

From 4pm on Sunday 29th August we’ll be kicking off with live music from the first of three bands, Scruffy Dogs, who will be followed by The Lame Dogs and then, headlining the evening – and breaking the rather obvious theme to the band names – will be Macca, who played so well for us in the rain last year!

There’ll be a barbecue and a selection of real ales from our ‘beer festival’ in the garden as well as the usual selection of cold lagers, wines, IPA and Abbot – plus soft drinks! – in the pub itself.

So why not join us to help Ali celebrate entering her forties? The pub will be open from 12pm on Sunday August 29th, the barbecue and live music will kick off at 4pm.

Hope to see you there!

Mark J Daniels
Licensee / Partner – The Tharp Arms

Breaking World Records…

2010-07-21T12:25:00.001+01:00

Ever wondered how many beer mats you can flip in 41.06 seconds? Or how many you can flip using just two fingers whilst wearing a blindfold?

Read our landlord’s personal blog today and all will be revealed…

Five years. And counting…

2010-07-21T10:03:00.001+01:00

July 21st, 1969 – most people will remember that as the day that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon.*

Exactly one year before that, Arnold Palmer became the first golfer to earn a million dollars.*

On the same date but in 1873, Jesse James and his men commit their first train robbery.*

This, and so much more, happened on this date in history, but none stand in my memory as much as this date five years ago today.

Standing outside The Tharp Arms in blazing sun at 9:00am on Thursday 21st July 2005 I looked at Ali and asked: “are we doing the right thing?”

She simply looked back at me and said: “since when have you seen a publican driving around in a rubbish car?”

Well, we’ve learned a bit since then, obviously. Not to mention having written off two cars in that time, spent nearly £2’000 repairing the cylinder head on another, and purchased a Renault Vel Satis that spent each day of its life trying to kill me.

Her rhetoric was probably poorly chosen, but it’s been an interesting five years. There have been more laughs than I can remember, a few tears, and more than once I’ve managed to flood the cellar. Oh, and I drilled a hole in the water pipes once when trying to mount a speaker on the wall. Six hours that leaked before I realised there was a puddle in the middle of the bar.

Rarely a day goes by when something interesting or amusing doesn’t happen, and so we find ourselves sitting here on our fifth anniversary a bit agog. We haven’t made any arrangements for the day, because we forgot it was arriving!

So, instead, why not join us for a drink this evening to celebrate? We might even get flamboyant and put some peanuts on the bar…

Mark J Daniels
Licensee / Partner – The Tharp Arms

*my history really isn’t that good; this data was taken from on-this-day.com

Please remember to sponsor me for my bike ride this Sunday.

Joseph Holt – Humdinger

2010-07-15T17:01:00.001+01:00

Fancy something a bit different? This weekend, our guest ale is Humdinger, by Joseph Holt of Manchester.

Usually sold in bottle format, this delicious beer, dashed with a hint of honey, was the winner of the Tesco Beer Challenge in 2004.

Now available for a limited time as a draught product at The Tharp Arms, this combination of English malt, Mexican aroma honey and citrus-flavoured traditional whole hops makes a great refreshing change to our usual selection of ales.

It’ll also taste great on Friday night, when we’re joined by the Bury Fair Women’s Morris Dance and the Ely & Littleport Riot at 8pm for some great entertainment. Why not pop along and join in the fun?

Morris Men, Silverstone … and the World Cup

2010-07-05T18:45:00.001+01:00

Another great week is being lined up for you here at The Tharp Arms, with the weekend getting underway on Thursday night with the return of the Devil’s Dyke Morris Men.

As usual, the entertainment will begin at 7:45pm so why not join us for a bit of fun, laughter and some very interesting dance techniques?

Sunday is also proving to be a big day. England might no longer be in the World Cup, but there’s still all the glory to play for. With the semi finals being shown on Tuesday and Wednesday evening in our public bar, and then the Runner’s Up tournament on Saturday evening, it’s all to play for from 7:30pm on Sunday night.

Why not, however, make a day of it and join us to watch the British Grand Prix first, with all the action getting under way from 1:00pm. Germany’s Sebastian Vettel beat England’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button last time out, just as England lost to Germany at football later that day. On home turf, could the British duo show the Red Bull upstart just how it should be done…?

Join us at The Tharp Arms for all the sporting excitement and Morris dancing you can handle this week…

Do you know a BT engineer?

2010-06-30T17:05:00.001+01:00

Here’s a plea for help: do any of our customers, or anybody local to The Tharp Arms, know a BT Engineer who would very kindly be prepared to pop down to the pub and have a look at our phone socket in return for a beer or two?

Right now, the Internet speeds we are achieving are slower than that which were available in 1995. Our telephone provider wants to charge a small fortune just to send somebody along to have a look, and therefore it would actually be cheaper to pay BT to put a whole new line in. And rewire most of the village.

So, if you know somebody in the Newmarket/Chippenham/Ely area who is a BT Engineer and who would be happy to come along and have a look at our phone socket, we’d be very grateful. Get in touch and let us know.

(Preferably before Mark takes a sledgehammer to the whole lot and then goes off for a cry…)

Back of the Net…!

2010-06-30T00:25:00.001+01:00

So the nit-picking has begun, the dissection of the performance, the reasons why the England squad have arrived home early from South Africa, and I’ve heard about a bazillion different reasons as to why Fabio Capello should be hanged with immediate effect.

Pretty much everybody I speak to in the pub thinks that Capello should go and that Harry Redknapp should be drafted in immediately to lead England’s charge to redemption, and the Euro 2012 tournament.

In the meantime, though, there’s an awful lot of people out there who need cheering up so why not come along to The Tharp Arms where, for the remainder of the World Cup, we are offering a free drink* with selected items on our menu.

And Greene King’s special ale brewed to celebrate the tournament has been slashed to just £2.00 a pint while stocks last. Maybe the officials can’t see when a goal is scored, but at least you’ll get a result with this great value beer.

All the remaining games of the tournament will continue to be shown at the pub so if you’ve picked a back up team to support now that England is out why not still come along and see how they’re doing?

Mark Daniels
Licensee – The Tharp Arms

*free drinks are available on selected items on our menu. The free drinks available are: 1 pint of Greene King IPA, Back of the Net or Foster’s. 1 125ml glass of house wine. 1 pint of soft drink. Only one free drink is available per person, per meal, per day. Please ensure you drink responsibly.

England make it through … PHEW!

2010-06-23T18:04:00.001+01:00

One can never underestimate the power of football, no matter how much I try!

Before today’s game, our customers were pretty tense and nervous. Now they’re all sitting outside, relaxing in the sun and quaffing their drinks. It’s a real party atmosphere and should get better as the weekend arrives…

The Runt of the Litter…

2010-06-22T16:29:00.001+01:00

Getting your stock order right is an important thing for a pub: you’ve got to make sure your stock holding is enough to cater for the week’s upcoming trade, while not holding on to so much stock that it’s affecting your cash flow.

But when you order a case of 200ml Schweppes Tomato Juice to arrive, you quite rightly don’t expect to receive a case of 125ml Tomato Juice with an Orange Juice snuck in there for good measure, do you…!

“The Runt of the Litter”

England v Algeria – tonight, 7:30pm

2010-06-18T12:09:00.001+01:00

What a day of football ahead we’ve got, culminating with the much-anticipated England v Algeria match this evening, kicking off at 7:30pm.

But the weekend doesn’t end as quickly as it starts, regardless of England’s performance this evening.

For the rugby fans amongst you, there’s also England v Australia in International Rugby on Saturday morning and we’ll be opening at 11:00am in time for the kick off of that match; why not get your car washed while you’re here?

Our annual car wash to help raise money for the local Isleham Swimming Pool Association takes place in the car park tomorrow from 11:30pm to 3:00pm (ish) and is an ever-popular event at the pub. Come along, get your car cleaned, and while you’re waiting enjoy some of our great offers:

Carlsberg and IPA are £2.45 a pint at all times, or treat yourselves to a bottle of wine for just £7.25. Bulmers is just £3.00 a bottle this weekend or, if you’re feeling hungry, check out the special summer offers on selected items on our menu and get yourself a free drink with your meal*.

Whatever it is you’re looking for, we look forward to seeing you at The Tharp over the weekend…

* free drink comprises a pint of Foster’s, IPA, soft drink (coke/lemonade), or a 125ml glass of wine; offer is only available on selected menu items and the offer can be withdrawn at any time by the management. Please drink responsibly.

Getting in to June…!

2010-06-03T12:29:00.001+01:00

As the sun starts to shine (again) and the weekend approaches we’re finally heading towards that ‘big event of the year’. No, not summer, but the World Cup!

From today in The Tharp Arms you’ve got the chance to win lots of on-the-spot prizes, plus the opportunity to go on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and win that coveted prize: £1’000’000!

All you’ve got to do is purchase a pint of Kronenbourg, Foster’s or Aspall, collect a game card from the bar staff, and scratch off to see if you’ve won a prize. Instant prizes include mini footballs, badges and t-shirts, plus every card has a code to use to ring up and see if you can win a million pounds.

We’ve got a hundred instant prizes to give away during the course of the World Cup*.

But that’s not all. Don’t forget that this Sunday is the first Sunday in the month, and that means it’s Quiz Night! Join us from 8pm for another quiz – and this time the questions are written by somebody else entirely…

And our guest ale for this weekend continues to be the ever-popular Reverend James from the welsh Brains brewery.

So, with the sun shining, why not pop along this weekend and start to get in to the mood for summer – and football success!

*while stocks last…

Reverend James, Roast Turkey, and football…

2010-05-30T10:07:00.001+01:00

What with all the excitement on Friday with Mark, we completely forgot to let everybody know that there’s a guest ale on for this bank holiday weekend!

Ever popular with fans of real ale, this weekend’s guest is Reverend James, from Wales’ Cardiff Brewery, Brains. This 4.5% beer still maintains its original recipe from 1885 and is named after one of the original owners of Buckley Brewery.

A deeply satisfying beer, it’s always popular with our ale drinkers when we get it on as a guest, so why not pop along and have a taste of it for yourself?

It’ll go well with today’s Roast Turkey, as well, plus it’s another day for getting you in the mood for next month’s World Cup, with Japan taking on England in live football, kicking off at 1:15pm.

And, just in case you thought you might miss out, the Turkish Grand Prix will be shown on the small screen above the bar too.

The Tharp Arms – the place to be for a great atmosphere, great fun and great beer.

Whisky and More…

2010-05-20T10:21:00.001+01:00

If you’ve been reading our landlord’s Twitter feed, you’ll probably be aware that Mark and Ali took a trip out to the nearby St George’s Distillery, England’s first whisky distillery in a century.

If you fancy a nice few hours out, we highly recommend a trip to the distillery, which is located only half an hour up the A11 from our pub. Tours of the distillery cost just £5 a head and include a taster of their Chapter 6 3-year old single malt, plus – if you like your whisky – their shop is full of a huge variety of malts from around the world.

Why not make a trip of it then head back to The Tharp Arms in the evening for a nice meal – and another taster of the Chapter 6 single malt? Indeed, we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to purchase a bottle of the local whisky and put it on sale in the bar alongside our other selection of malts.

But if whisky isn’t your thing, our Greene King IPA and Carlsberg are both still £2.25 a pint and we have a lovely May Menu on at the moment with a diverse range to tickle your tastebuds.

Next Friday we’ll have live music with local musician Tim Brown and keep your eye on our blog for more information on offers and deals during the World Cup.

View Full Album

ESPN is OFF…

2010-05-03T16:50:00.001+01:00

We signed up to Sky Sports and ESPN at the end of October last year with the generous support of our business partners, Greene King.

Unfortunately, however, even with their support this has not proven to be a successful venture for us and, although we are tied in to our contract with Sky until October 29th, in order to assist us they have agreed to switch off the ESPN portion of our sports contract with them.

We appreciate this might cause some inconvenience for those that like to watch the matches available on ESPN, but the full Sky Sports package, along with the majority of sporting entertainment that this provides, is still available in the pub.

And don’t forget that the World Cup is shown on the main terrestrial channels, and will be in full glorious High Definition within the pub throughout the tournament!

It’s Time For A Price Rise!

2010-05-01T12:32:00.001+01:00

Prices may have gone up, but our Carlsberg and IPA are still at the competition-beating price of just £2.25 a pint, and our guest ale, Phoenix, is only £2.50…

There is no great way of announcing it, or making it sound good, but it’s that time of year again where we have to administer some price rises to our products. So let’s try and say it through clenched teeth and with a rictus grin: it’s time to put the prices up!

Ordinarily, we try to keep to just one price increase a year. That always happens on, or around, 1st May – this is because it’s the time of year when Greene King administer their price rises on alcohol products to us. Unfortunately, this year prices rose on 1st January 2010 too, but this was because of Labour’s decision to reinstate the 17.5% VAT bracket, rather than a policy decision either here at The Tharp Arms, or at Greene King.

This year, as every year, we have sat on the duty increase from the Chancellor’s Budget in March until we knew what our own price increases from the brewery would be and so, from today, you will find that certain products have increased in price at the bar.

Please try not to be too rude to the staff about this! We have tried to keep the prices to a minimum and, thanks to the support of our business partners Greene King, we have managed to maintain IPA and Carlsberg at £2.25 a pint – that’s a great price which ever way you look at it!

Our guest for this weekend is from the revived Tolly Cobbald brand, Phoenix, and is also on sale at the fantastic price of just £2.50 a pint.

So, price rises have had to happen, but we’ve done our best to continue offering you the best prices in the area!

Now let’s hope for a bit of Bank Holiday sunshine…

St George’s Day fun…

2010-04-24T11:53:00.001+01:00

You can always rely on equipment to fail when you’re busy, and that’s exactly what happened last night as we were descended upon by everybody who wanted to enjoy the sun, celebrate St George’s Day, and take advantage of our Free Pint of IPA offer that we had on yesterday.

Barmaid Molly opened the pub for the evening shift while Mark was off with Adam putting the finishing touches to a bar set up for a 40th birthday party this evening. At one point she had to place a call to the boys saying the Coke dispensing machine wasn’t working so Adam ran down with some spare bottles to see her through until they could get back and look at it properly.

But, when they got back, they found that not only was the Coke dispenser not working properly, but the music server had stopped working and the glass washer didn’t want to fill with water. Oh, and the till was completely empty of change; a bit awkward giving £2.90 in change of just 2p and 1p pieces…

Local vicar Mike came to the rescue, changing up coins to notes from the church collection and the other problems were quickly dispensed with, leaving everybody to enjoy a great evening of fun and laughter and free beer.

And the sun is shining again today, so why not pop along and enjoy sitting out the front and watching the world go by as you sup on a nice cold Pimms and Lemonade?

Just to let you know, however, that the restaurant will be closed this evening. That bar that Mark and Adam were setting up yesterday is a big bash for an upstanding member of the village community and therefore our catering facilities are in use up there tonight.

The pub, however, will still be open for drinks. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Our 70 pint giveaway for St George’s Day

2010-04-21T08:12:00.001+01:00

Fancy bagging yourself a free pint?

This week, each time you buy a pint of Greene King IPA* – brilliantly priced at £2.25 a pint – you’ll get a voucher card and a stamp. Once you’ve got three stamps you can bring your voucher card to the pub on Friday, St George’s Day, to claim a free pint** of Greene King IPA.

St. George is, amongst many countries, the Patron Saint of England and Friday is his feast day, commemorating the day he died in ad. 303.

So often we get caught up celebrating the Saints of other countries that we forget to celebrate our own, so this year why not make St. George’s Day that little bit more special and pop along to celebrate it at The Tharp Arms – we’ve got seventy free pints of IPA to give away on the day!

In accordance with responsible drinking, the following restrictions apply:

* only one stamp can be issued per day, per customer
** only one voucher card and one free pint of IPA may be issued per customer

POETS Day…

2010-04-08T11:51:00.001+01:00

When local teacher Alan Campbell first mooted the idea of holding a ‘poetry evening’ in The Tharp, I have to say I was sceptical. We do, after all, have a reputation to uphold.

But it was February, snow was on the ground, business was quiet and so I shrugged and thought, why the hell not? It can’t do any harm…

So Alan, who schools at the nearby American forces base in Mildenhall, told all his buddies, pupils and colleagues about the night and we let all the regulars know.

It’s fair to say I was forced to eat my words.

Alan ran the evening as an ‘open mic’ night, inviting members of the audience to stand up and read out their poems; they could be anything, from well-known pieces of work to silly ditties that they’d composed themselves. There were also one or two amusing reworks of Humpty Dumpty…

It also turned out to be a better evening for the pub than New Year’s Eve had been!

So when Alan came to me last month and asked if he could do the night again, I didn’t hesitate in saying yes. So why not join us tonight for our very own version of Poet’s Day?

The fun kicks off from 6pm and will go on until all the bards have run out of rhymes to tell, and a buffet will be laid on for people to enjoy throughout the evening.

Look forward to seeing you later!

Mark J Daniels
Licensee – The Tharp Arms

Which Match to Watch?

2010-04-02T12:06:00.001+01:00

If you’re thinking of watching football in a pub this weekend, the match to watch is the Manchester United v Chelsea game at 12:45 on Saturday.

But you could be forgiven for thinking, given all the hype around it, that the only place you can see the game is in pubs that have got the new 3D television sets.

Tomorrow sees the launch of Sky’s new 3D service, freely available in pubs that have got a HD box and a 3D compatible television set, and nobody can blame Sky for crowing loud and proud about this exclusive event.

It’s worth remembering, then, that it is also available in good old fashioned 2D too!

So which match to watch then this weekend? Well, Man U v Chelsea, of course! At The Tharp Arms, not in 3D, but in 2D HD!

When it comes to beer names…

2010-03-31T07:58:00.001+01:00

Obviously, swearing isn’t good, which is why the full story hasn’t been posted on this particular blog. But, if you don’t mind a rude word or two, Mark’s latest personal blog refers to the announcement that the Germans are planning on brewing a new beer, with a rather profane name…

You can read the full details here: Mark’s personal blog

What’s on this week … a Tharp special!

2010-03-29T11:58:00.001+01:00

This week is National Cask Ale Week, an initiative to celebrate Britain’s national drink, raise awareness of the beauty of bitter, and a chance for people to experience something new, and perhaps different.

To celebrate this special week for the trade, we’re putting on a guest ale – a Tharp Arms Special, brewed for us by Greene King as part of the Head Brewer’s Club.

Entry into Greene King’s Head Brewer’s Club is only granted to those whose premises have been visited by John Bexon, Greene King’s head brewer, and to pubs who have achieved a high level of beer quality and cellar maintenance. We were pleased to be awarded membership in to the club last year and proudly wear the plaque on the front of our building.

So why not join us for a bit of a ‘beer tasting’? As ever, Greene King’s excellent ales – IPA and Abbot Ale – are on the pumps, along with the Head Brewer’s special for the coming week.

As if Cask Ale Week wasn’t enough, this weekend it’s Easter. I know the weather isn’t forecast to be good – snow is brewing, again! – but we’ll be open throughout the Easter weekend. And, if your tastes aren’t to the excellent flavours of our bitter, our lager offer for the Easter weekend includes Foster’s at an excellent value. From Thursday, and throughout Easter, we will have Foster’s on offer at £2.25 a pint.

Of course, it might seem odd promoting a lager during Cask Ale Week, so don’t worry ale fans – our IPA is also £2.25 for a pint!

And to round the week off, Sunday might be Easter Sunday, but it’s also the first Sunday of the month – and that means it’s quiz night! Join us from 8pm to test your knowledge against your friends…

Finally, last Thursday we held The Big Pub Quiz, an event to help raise money for the Family Holiday Association. Thank you to those who attended. Everybody who joined in got a free entry to our prize draw to win tickets to a race event at Newmarket, kindly donated by Newmarket Racecourse. Throughout this week we’ll be selling raffle tickets and the prize draw will take place after the quiz this coming Sunday.

Anybody who attends the quiz will also be entered in to the draw, and the money raised on Sunday night will also be donated to the Family Holiday Association.

We hope you’ll be able to take part!

What’s on this week…

2010-03-23T10:52:00.001Z

So it seems winter is finally leaving us (or have I spoken to soon?) and that means that the nights will soon be getting lighter and the weather (should) be getting warmer.

This week we’ve got a full schedule. We’ve repainted the public bar and spruced up the walls a little bit: they were getting tired and slightly marked. Tonight West Ham v Wolverhampton Wanderers will be on Sky Sports and tomorrow night we’ll be showing the Tottenham v Fulham game.

But then the fun really gets going: Thursday night we’re taking part in the Big Pub Quiz. We need as many people as we can to come along and join in to help raise money for the Family Holiday Association. Details on both organisations can be found by clicking their names. The quiz will kick off at 8pm and entry is £2 per head – and joining in isn’t just about raising money for charity, it’s about taking part in breaking a record for the largest joint quiz taking place across the country!

And Friday night is the last Friday in the month, and that means live music!

This month we’ve got the talented Memphis Underground playing some good ol’ fashioned rock’n’roll. Join us as they liven up the pub from 9pm!

And don’t forget that this weekend the clocks spring forward! Yes, it’s one hour less in bed come Sunday morning, but many more hours in the evening able to sit at the front of the pub and enjoy a lovely pint of beer or glass of wine…

Okell’s Old Skipper

2010-03-12T12:06:00.001Z

This weekend we’ve got a guest ale from the Isle of Man brewery, Okell’s.

Courtesy of our landlords, Greene King, the Old Skipper ale from Okell’s Brewery is a lovely light beer with an alcohol content of 4.5% with a hoppy and fruity aroma and a flavour that starts with a sweetness and leads to an intense, bitter finish.

You can find out more about the Okell’s Brewery by clicking here to visit their website – or just pop in to The Tharp Arms and have a taste of Old Skipper for yourself!

Opening Hours

2010-03-03T11:25:00.001Z

From today we’re making a minor change to our opening hours.

We’ve known for some time that staying open until 3pm on a lunch time / week day afternoon is not a financially viable option, so we are making a slight variation to our hours to bring the lunch time closing time forward by half an hour to 2:30pm.

Full details of our opening hours are available on our website by clicking this link.

We apologise for any inconvenience this might cause to some of you but hope that you understand the reason for our decision.

Should you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

What’s On In March

2010-03-01T16:00:00.001Z

This weekend we added a new page to our pub’s website: the What’s On section.

It’s still a bit basic and needs some work doing to it, but it’s a good place to have a quick look-see at what’s coming up at your favourite pub this month that you might want to pop along and take part in.

Now that it’s March we hope we’ll be seeing some better weather – for more than two months now we’ve endured wind, rain, snow, sleet, and plenty of chilly weather and ice on the ground, and all of us are now desperate for some sun and warmth, the chance to get the mowers out and tidy the gardens and, most of all, the opportunity to sit out the front of The Tharp Arms and enjoy a great pint of beer.

We hope you’ll join us at the end of a hard day’s work for some refreshments, but in the meantime here’s a reminder of some of the highlights going on here over the next month:

Sunday March 7th: QUIZ - our annual monthly quiz kicks off at 8pm

Saturday March 13th: LIVE MUSIC - The Misspents from 9pm

Sunday March 14th: FORMULA ONE - the new season kicks off from Bahrain at 12:00, join us to see if Jenson Button can start his campaign to defend his title

Sunday March 14th: MOTHERING SUNDAY - book your table now for a special Mother's Day Sunday Lunch

Wednesday March 17th: ST PATRICK'S DAY - join us for a pint or two of Guinness!

Friday March 26th: LIVE MUSIC - Memphis Underground from 9pm

New website page

2010-02-28T12:43:00.002Z

Today we've added a new section to our website, titled "What's On..."

These new pages might appear a bit basic at first, but we'll be updating them regularly and hope to have a new calendar function up and running very soon.

In the meantime, they're there to help you find out what is going on at The Tharp Arms over the coming month, so why not pop along and have a look at: http://www.thetharparms.com/what-s-on/

Pancake Day

2010-02-16T15:43:00.001Z

This is the time of year when we traditionally start thinking of something to give up – from tomorrow, we have to choose something we wish to give up for the next forty days before Easter. Traditionally, our local vicar gives up alcohol (I love him so much for that) and my wife threatens to give up anything conjugal.

But today we know as Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, the day before the fasting begins.

So why not join us at The Tharp Arms this evening for some of Ali’s great home-made pancakes, traditionally served with a spot of sugar and a slice of lemon? They’re great fun, tasty, and make a great treat on their own or as a dessert to our everyday menu.

Hope to see you there.

Mark.
Landlord – The Tharp Arms

Live Music Postponed…

2010-02-13T11:57:00.001Z

We apologise to all our customers for this inconvenience and disappointment but we are having to temporarily postpone The Misspents live music event on Friday 26th February…

One of the “new for 2010” events we have been trying to bring in is Live Music on the Last Friday of every month.

This has, however, always been subject to licensing and we have been working with our brewery, Greene King, and East Cambridgeshire District Council to get our licence for Live Music and Entertainment established. Such things do take time to sort out and, in the meantime, our monthly live music events can only take place under what is known as a Temporary Event Notice – a temporary licence, so to speak, whilst we try to establish a permanent one.

We had a great night with The Reverbs at the end of January but, unfortunately, due to an administrative error on my behalf, we have not been able to acquire one of these temporary licenses for The Misspents, who were going to perform at The Tharp on Friday 26th February 2010.

Attempting to host the event without the appropriate licence is illegal and, therefore, in order to ensure we maintain good relations with our local council and the police we are going to have to postpone this particular event.

I apologise to all our customers for any inconvenience or disappointment this will cause but can assure you that it doesn’t mean the end of our live music events; it’s just a slight hiccup in the bureaucracy that surrounds getting such things going!

We are working with The Misspents to establish another date with them as quickly as possible – watch this space for more information!

Mark Daniels – Landlord – The Tharp Arms
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thetharparms

Valentine’s and Rugby…

2010-02-09T15:54:00.001Z

When your wife/girlfriend/InsertSignificantOtherHere said they agreed with your idea that Valentine’s Day was over-rated and not to get them anything for the day, did you really think they meant it?

In our experience, that’s just a ploy to see if you will think about doing something for them on the day … or not.

There’s no need to panic, though, as we think we’ve got the perfect Valentine’s Day for both of you lined up. Why not book a table for two and enjoy a nice, romantic Sunday lunch in the pleasant surroundings of our small village pub?

And then, when you’ve finished, wander through to the Public Bar where you can see England take on Italy at 3:30 in their next match of the 2010 RBS Six Nations Rugby tournament.

Drop us a line via the contact page on our new-look website – telephone numbers and an e-mail form are all there for you to book a table with us. Why wait?

Your better half will be chuffed to bits with you for wining and dining her that she’ll not blink an eye at you then joining the boys for beer and rugby.

Quiz Night - from 8pm

2010-02-07T10:03:00.001Z

Our monthly quiz is tonight, kick-off at 8pm ... more details here: http://bit.ly/cmQvZP

John Heavens joins The Reverbs tonight…

2010-01-29T18:31:00.001Z

We’re barely a couple of hours away from kicking off our first Live Music event of the year with Chippenham’s very own local band, The Reverbs, and now we’ve got an extra treat to add to the line up: Mr John Heavens.

John, a regular in The Tharp Arms and a former member of the Jools Holland Band, will be joining The Reverbs tonight from 8:30 in The Public Bar. It’s going to be a great night and a great performance so if you’re in the area we hope you can come along and join in the fun.

If you want to find out more about John Heavens, simply listen to his album, Big City Calling, on Spotify or pop along to his Myspace page.

Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/album/3ZKvj4DhzUXqvsZLj9Sj80

Myspace link: http://www.myspace.com/johnheavens

Music for Haiti

2010-01-27T09:11:00.001Z

This Friday we’re trying something new for 2010 – wooh, exciting, that sounds!

The last Friday of every month – which, obviously, includes the one coming up – will be Live Music Night. We tried live music a couple of times last year, just to see what the reaction was, and it was extremely positive so this year we’re putting something regular in place for you.

At the end of each month we’ll feature a different local band, each with a different style of music. We’re kicking off this week with The Reverbs, a band so local that one of its members only lives two doors from the pub. With their inimitable jazz and blues style it should make for a lively, fun evening in The Tharp.

In agreement with the band, we’ve also chosen to use this gig to raise some money for the support fund for Haiti, so why not come along and enjoy the music, a great night in the village local, and help us raise some money for a worthy cause.

The Reverbs are due to start after 8pm in the Public Bar – it should be lively and fun! More information can be found on the Live Music section of our Facebook page, here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=248704986710&ref=share

The Landlord Says … January 2010

2010-01-24T13:38:00.001Z

The following article is Mark’s column in the Chippenham Village Newsletter, due out later this week.

Just before Christmas I was reading an interesting story in The Romanian Times (so exciting is my reading material!) about the residents of a tiny German village who had got so fed up with speeding motorists that they'd decided to take the law in to their own hands.

Rather than putting up fake speed cameras, standing out at the side of the road in yellow hi-viz jerseys, or simply putting up signs telling people children like to play football in the middle of the busy road, the residents stretched an industrial-sized roll of Cling Film across the road to trap speeding motorists.

I thought the story was quite amusing, an innovative way of dealing with a problem many small communities face, and then forgot all about it. Christmas was coming and, with it, snow. Lots of it.

I hope you enjoyed the snow-covered holidays, and that you, your families and your friends all saw 2010 in in style - I'll take this opportunity to say Happy New Year, and wish you all the best for the coming twelve months!

As ever, Christmas in the Daniels household was a cacophony of noise covered by a large blanket of hurriedly-removed wrapping paper, interspersed with the odd glass of wine and a sprinkling of Doctor Who. Great fun, and nice to get a couple of evenings off from the bar for the four of us to spend together.

But the snow hampered get togethers with the rest of our family and, as I write, I still haven't seen my Dad, his wife and their children yet. At some point in the coming weeks they'll make it over here and deliver the presents that Santa left for the kids in Milton Keynes, which will probably confuse Malachy and Jacob as it'll then be their birthdays, too!

Despite that, the snow meant the boys and I were able to get in a proper snowball fight and, for the first time, Malachy learned how to make a snowball that wouldn't disintegrate halfway between his hand and my face. Shame, because now when they hit me, they actually hurt...

For many in this country, the snow caused a lot of problems, but with such a 'proper' winter behind us we should all be able to keep our fingers crossed for a 'proper' summer to follow it. And we've got some great events lined up for 2010 to keep you entertained, too.

Starting this month we are launching live music on the last Friday of every month, with local band The Reverbs kicking off on 29th January. As well as launching our new live music events, The Reverbs would also like to use the opportunity to raise money for the victims of Haiti, so why not come along and join us for a great night of fun and entertainment, and help raise some cash to a good cause too?

Don't forget we've also got Sky Sports & ESPN in the Public Bar now, there's always a quiz on the first Sunday of every month and we're taking part in The Big Puz Quiz on Thursday 25th March, too, all in the name of charity.

Ali and I hope you'll join us for all the fun lined up for 2010 - there's lots to look forward to. Meanwhile, having watched the way some vehicles have torn through this village over the Christmas period despite the difficult conditions, I'm left with just one question:

Anyone know where I can buy an industrial-sized roll of Cling Film?

Mark J Daniels
Landlord – The Tharp Arms

Last chance to grab yourself a £1.99 pint!

2009-12-31T00:01:00.000Z

There are plenty of news stories out and about today regarding the recession and how so many people are planning on seeing in the New Year at home tonight, mainly because we’re all lacking in cash.

And then there are the stories that pubs are putting off customers because they charge entry on New Year’s Eve.

Here at The Tharp Arms we don’t believe in that. The people who use the pub day-in day-out during the year, and support us during the hard times, should not be charged extra for seeing in 2010 – and nor should anybody else who chooses to share this time with us.

But what will happen as January dawns across the UK is that the VAT rate in the country will rise from 15% to 17.5%. What many people couldn’t understand on 1st December 2008 was why, when VAT fell by 2.5% to fifteen, the price of their beer didn’t come down. The story that was less covered was the fact that, simultaneous to the VAT decrease, Alistair Darling’s pre-Christmas mini-budget increased alcohol duty on beer by a further 8%. The two offset each other, and it was all publicans could do just to keep the price the same.

Unfortunately, come Friday morning, the Chancellor won’t see fit to decrease beer duty at the same time as he returns VAT to its original figure. And, unfortunately, this means that all pubs will have little choice but to chuck up all their prices to stabilise the effect the VAT rise has.

So what better reason to come and celebrate New Year with us other than the fact that our £1.99 a pint deal on Carlsberg and IPA – which has been so successful since its introduction in June this year – has to come to an end.

But don’t panic – we’ve been working hard with our partners, Greene King, to ensure a good deal continues and prices on our beer won’t be leaping back up to their heady pre-June prices. Instead, from January 1st IPA and Carlsberg will rise, but only to £2.25 a pint each – still far below the average price of a pint in the country.

And we’ll be launching new deals on wine and spirits as January continues.

So come along and see in the New Year with us, and enjoy the great prices while they last. But don’t worry – there’s plenty more good news to come in 2010, and we’ll be writing about this over the coming weeks, so keep in touch with this blog to find out more.

And, to everybody, Happy New Year and our best wishes for a prosperous 2010.

Christmas Opening Hours

2009-12-24T10:03:00.001Z

So this is Christmas… and what hours are we open?

Below are the opening hours for The Tharp Arms over the festive period. Come along and enjoy a pint of Rocking Rudolph with us:

Date	Lunch	Evening
Christmas Eve 24 / 12 / 2009	12:00 – 15:00 food 12:00 – 14:00	18:00 – close… no food
Christmas Day 25 / 12 / 2009	12:00 – 14:00 no food	Closed
Boxing Day 26 / 12 / 2009	12:00 – 16:00 no food	Closed
27 / 12 / 2009	12:00 - food 12:00 – 14:30	- 22:30
28 / 12 / 2009	12:00 – 15:00 food 12:00 – 14:00	18:00 – 22:30 (no food)
29 / 12 / 2009	12:00 – 15:00 food 12:00 – 14:00	17:30 – 23:00 no food
30 / 12 / 2009	12:00 – 15:00 food 12:00 – 14:00	17:30 – 23:00 no food
New Year’s Eve 31 / 12 / 2009	12:00 – 15:00 food 12:00 – 14:00	18:00 – close… no food
New Year’s Day 01 / 12 / 2010	12:00 – 15:00 no food	Closed
02 / 12 / 2010	12:00 - food 12:00 – 15:00	- 23:00 food 18:00 – 21:00

Merry Christmas to all our Customers.

‘tis the Christmas Week…

2009-12-21T11:21:00.001Z

So it’s finally here, the Christmas Week. There’s no getting away from it now, in four sleeps time Father Christmas will, with any luck, be coming down your chimney and leaving piles of sooty presents underneath the tree.

But, whilst snow might be on the ground and schoolless children are running around with snotty noses and ever-increasing demands to Santa for what they want leaving for them, the Christmas Number One isn’t a very festive one at all.

Here at Tharp Towers we understand the sentiments of Tracy and Jon Morter, whose Facebook campaign lead to Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name Of… keeping X-Factor’s Joe McElderry and his warbling ballad, The Climb, from the Number One spot.

But what we can’t understand is why they didn’t go and pick something a little more, well, Christmassy instead.

Killing In The Name Of originally charted in 1993 and didn’t even make it in to the Top Twenty back then. It’s predominately a shouty, sweary type of song that attempts to mix rock and rap together and ends up as a bit of a loud noise and not much else. (In our humble opinion, you understand.)

The Climb is a remake of a Miley Cyrus track and does nothing other than ensure Joe McElderry is little more than a male version of Leona Lewis, another X-Factor offspring who won the Christmas Number One spot in 2006 with yet another warbling track, A Moment Like This.

So we’ve been asking around the bar for people to come up with their favourite Christmas tracks, and we posted the question to our Twitter service too. Now we’d like to know what your favourites are. Let’s start with our own Landlord, Mark – his all-time favourite Christmas song is, probably embarrassingly, Shakin’ Stevens with Merry Christmas, Everyone. We have to let Mark off, though – have you seen the jumper he’s wearing?

Meanwhile, why not join us at The Tharp Arms for some very merry Christmas cheer this week? Christmas Eve we’ll open at 6:00pm and it’s always a fun-filled evening as people come for mince pies and a Christmas-sing-along after the church services.

Christmas Day we’ll be open for drinks only between 12:00 and 2:00 and then Boxing Day we’ll be open from 12:00 until 4:00, again for drinks only.

But, if you can’t make it, may we wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

And we hope you’re listening to something just a little more festive on your MP3 players this Christmas…!

Sport in the bar this weekend

2009-11-13T13:51:00.001Z

There seems little point putting the A-boards out today announcing the sporting events we’ll be showing over the weekend, as every time we do the heavy rain just washes the writing straight off!

Right now, the board looks like some ghoulish cross between a Hallowe’en advert and the random scribblings of my youngest child.

Instead, we’ll get them posted here for you.

Tonight we’ll be showing the battle between Ricky Hatton’s younger brother, Matthew, and Lovemore Ndou as they contest for the IBO welterweight title in Manchester from 10:15pm.

Then on Saturday it’s a double bill of great national sport, starting with International Rugby Union as England face Argentina in the Investec Challenge Series. This will be followed almost immediately by football, with England facing Brazil before next year’s World Cup gets underway.

So why not pop along and join us for a great afternoon of sport.

Mark Daniels
Landlord – The Tharp Arms

With a fizzle and a bang, that’s Bonfire Night over for another year!

2009-11-10T14:38:00.001Z

Last week’s “big event” was the Firework’s Display, and what a display it was this year.

Kindly put together by our resident licensed pyromaniac, Kevin Pallant, this year’s event was as big and spectacular as many larger venues would put together and we’re looking forward to seeing the photographs taken by local photographer Andy Tiley when they’re ready.

Thanks have to be said to everybody who help make the event work: Kevin and Terry for ensuring the fireworks were launched safely; Shaun Cross for acting as our resident first aider for the evening; Tony Jullion for managing the bonfire and, of course, our staff, without whom we wouldn’t have been able to look after everybody. Molly and Julia did a great job of managing the bar while Adam stood out in the cold with Malachy and me to make sure everybody stayed safe. Ali was the unlucky one: throughout the display she found herself stuck in the kitchen, cooking all the burgers and hot dogs!

Firework’s Night is always a great one for people who like things that go fizz and bang, but I know there were one or two who were disgruntled about the price we have to charge. £5 for adults, £3 for children over the age of five might seem steep compared to council-run events but we cannot accommodate the volume of people that they get to support their events.

It does cost an awful lot to put these displays on. Everybody who helped out did so voluntarily, and we’re always grateful for that, but the fireworks themselves cost a lot these days, and then we have to ensure we have the correct licenses and adequate insurance in the event of a problem.

Everybody who attended, however, was full of praise for the display and it turned out to be a great night for all involved, and thank you to Kevin and Linda for the use of their field to launch the display from.

The weekend was another busy one, with sports fans coming in to watch the England v Australia Rugby Union game and the Manchester United v Chelsea match on Sunday. This coming weekend there’s another Rugby match, this time England face Argentina – let’s hope for a slightly better result this weekend!

Like many pubs, we’re in to the “quiet period” now, but with Hallowe’en and Guy Fawkes night now out of the way, you know what’s coming next, don’t you?

Indeed! Merry Christmas, everybody!

The Hallowe’en Weekend … And More!

2009-11-02T10:12:00.001Z

Well what a week that was!

After the fairly quiet trading period that always follows the summer, it was a pleasure to see the pub busy again last week, either with people enjoying a good meal or a quiet drink – and our winter games have started again, so with Dominoes, Darts and Cribbage all taking place in the early part of the week last week it was absolutely wonderful to watch over.

We have to say a great big thank you to Jacen Bruce, too, who played live in the pub on Friday night. His inimitable ‘50s and ‘60s rock’n’roll style was enjoyed by a large crowd and his Jacen Unplugged! routine, featuring covers of Johnny Cash, Elvis and Buddy Holly had people dancing all round the public bar.

This weekend also saw the installation of Sky in to the pub, a contentious subject amongst some, but we think it’ll work neatly and, indeed, the crowd in the public bar watching Tottenham get more than a little shown how to play the game by Arsenal were fun to have in, as were the small crowd that joined us on Sunday lunch time to watch the final race of the Formula One season take place under the lights in Abu Dhabi.

And last night, the monthly quiz was a complete sell-out. A capacity crowd in both bars to take part was an absolute joy to play QuizMaster to, even if one of the rounds was all about whether the customers could answer questions about myself and Ali!

In amongst all of that were the people out for a nice drink, Sunday lunch or a Saturday night special: Scorching Chicken. One customer said it was “very nice, but very hot.” I guess the name didn’t give it away then! Some were out just to avoid the Trick or Treaters, but that never works as the kids like to pop in to the pub for the treats too. I suspect if I ever answered their question with “Trick” they wouldn’t actually know what to do…!

One little chap did make us laugh when he came in to the pub with his parents, dressed up amazingly well. He could barely be more than four or five years old, and he came up to the bar and, whilst all his friends had said “Trick or Treat!” he simply shouted “Can I have some sweets please?”

“Oi,” I replied, with a big grin on my face. “What are you supposed to say?”

And, staring me straight in the eye, with a loud voice he said: “Please!”

Everybody laughed and the little man got his sweets…

All-in-all it’s been a great week. Lovely to see the pub busy, everybody laughing and having fun. Now we’re in to November, always a quiet one for the pub trade. During the month of November the pub will be closed on Monday lunch times to allow us time to catch up on some of the jobs we just can’t get done whilst the pub is always on the go. We’ll be open each Monday evening from 5:30 as usual, and the rest of our times remain just the same, but we’ve listed them below for you just in case.

Quiet November might be, but we’ve still got our annual Fireworks Party this Thursday evening, with the bonfire being lit at 6:30 and the fireworks going off in the field behind the pub from 7:00. Why not pop along and enjoy the great atmosphere, great beers and great company?

I hope we’ll see you in the pub soon.

Mark Daniels
Landlord – The Tharp Arms

Pub Opening Times (November):
Monday = 17:30 / 23:00
Tuesday – Thursday = 11:30 / 15:00 – 17:30 / 23:00
Friday = 11:30 / 15:00 – 17:00 / until close
Saturday = 11:30 – all day – 23:00
Sunday = 12:00 / 15:30 – 19:00 / 22:30

Sky Sports now at The Tharp Arms

2009-10-31T10:07:00.001Z

Having Sky Sports is one of those emotive issues for pubs. It’s very expensive, and not everybody wants it.

But we cannot deny that we are constantly getting requests from regular customers for us to show matches that are only available on Sky and ESPN, and so we have bitten the bullet this week and had Sky installed in the pub.

The service is only available in The Public Bar and we have gone to lengths to do our best to ensure it won’t disturb those who prefer a quieter drink in the Lounge Bar, or to eat in the Dining Area, but for those who enjoy watching sports in pubs, we’re pleased to announce that we now have the fully Sky Sports business package, complete with every sports channel available on their service, and most will be shown in glorious High Definition!

We do, however, only have the one television screen in The Public Bar, and therefore will only be able to show one sporting event at a time, depending on popular request.

So why not pop along to The Tharp? Great events, great beers, great food … great atmosphere!

Live Music this Hallowe’en

2009-10-29T10:41:00.001Z

It always creates mixed emotions in England, does Hallowe’en. Some people love it; some hate it – but which ever side of the fence you stand on, we can’t deny that people do like to have a bit of an excuse for a party.

This year, we’re eschewing our usual fancy dress party in favour of some live music but, because of the short-notice of getting an artist booked, the event is taking place on Friday 30th October, rather than Hallowe’en itself.

Local artist Jacen Bruce will be doing his solo acoustic set from 8pm on Friday night in the Public Bar, so why not pop along and join us? The pumpkins will be lit a day early, just to get in to the Hallowe’en spirit (see what we did there?), and if you feel like dressing up, nobody will stop you…

But if you fancy just sticking on some jeans and popping down to listen to Jacen’s performance, that’s exactly what our landlord will be doing. After all, he doesn’t do fancy dress…

More information can be found on our Facebook Events page, or simply drop in to the pub to find out more.

And if you’re about on Saturday there might be the odd ghoul or two standing at the bar, and there will be plenty of treats for the Trick’n’Treaters.

England v Ukraine … Or a free pint?

2009-10-09T18:23:00.001+01:00

Due to something complicated and very legal, we can’t actually show Saturday’s football match between England and the Ukraine. This is as frustrating for us, and many pubs up and down the country, as it is for you, but one of our partners, Carlsberg, are still offering a generous deal to all of you.

On Saturday 10th October there will be a voucher in the Daily Mirror entitling each reader to a free pint of Carlsberg in our pub.

Whilst the original intention was to offer people the chance to have a free pint whilst watching the game, Carlsberg, the Daily Mirror and ourselves (and, to be fair, all the other pubs taking part in the promotion) are still going to offer the free pint to everybody who comes in holding a voucher.

So, whilst the legal terms of the contract between the broadcasters and the Football Association might rankle with one or two of us, there’s nothing to stop you taking up Carlsberg and the Daily Mirror on their offer of a free pint.

Simply pick up a copy of the newspaper on Saturday, and pop in to redeem your voucher.

We’ll do the rest.

(And, if you’ve got a laptop and have already purchased your license for the game tomorrow, we offer free wi-fi and a fast connection to the Internet…)

If you’re not in our area during Saturday, you can still find a participating pub near you by visiting Carlsberg’s dedicated Free Pint website: http://www.carlsberg.co.uk/freepint

The Sky at Night above The Tharp Arms

2009-10-05T09:29:00.001+01:00

Last night, when locking up the pub, I couldn’t help but notice how light it seemed, despite it being just past midnight. Ali came out with her camera and ran off a few million photos; unfortunately, she couldn’t get a perfect shot of the rows upon rows of clouds that were migrating slowly across the sky as she had the wrong lens with her at the time, but here are a couple of my favourite shots that she did manage to get:

You wouldn’t believe the one above was taken at 12:31a.m.; it looks like dawn above the houses!

The pics can also be found at my web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdaniels/AliSNightTime#

Nice Pub. Nasty Tax. (From thepublican.com)

2009-09-29T14:00:00.001+01:00

My latest Publican.com blog is now available here: http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=16&storycode=65278&c=2

Today’s subject: a slightly ranty go at Gordon Brown for the proposed “Nice Pub Tax”!

To Sky or Not To Sky, that’s our question…

2009-09-28T12:47:00.001+01:00

The following blog was originally published on The Publican’s website and can be found by visiting: http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?storycode=65259

Can you imagine a pub full of beer-swilling football fans all staring at a screen through a pair of 1950's 3D goggles?

To Sky or Not To Sky, that's my question.

On the one hand, I'd quite like to be able to offer my customers the ability to watch Sky in the pub, but on the other Sky's pricing model is quite restrictive and could be the expense that tips my finely balanced cashflow scales in the wrong direction.

And I'm just a small village pub; the prices quoted to me are, admittedly, much lower than some I hear bandied about by other, larger, pubs, but they're still a large chunk of my turnover, with no guarantee that I'm going to get enough business through the door to even cover the cost of the service.

With finances getting tighter, pubs continuing to close at a faster rate than Kerry Katona's bank accounts and supermarket deals enticing people to stay at home and drink, Sky are going to have to do something drastic to keep their commercial business in place.

And they think they are, by offering loyal Sky Business customers exclusive access to their new 3DTV service early next year. The idea is simple, at first glance: it's a great way for Sky to showcase their new service before they launch it on the domestic market, and it allows pubs to offer an extra dimension to their viewing customers.

Very interesting.

Except that a) the choice of words "loyal Sky pub subscribers" kind of intimates that if I were to be interested in taking the plunge and subscribing to Sky in the pub, 3DTV wouldn't be offered to me; and b) it will almost certainly mean an extra premium on the commercial subscription, a fee that doesn't appear to have been made clear yet.

I have domestic Sky in my home, yet I refuse to pay extra for the HDTV service because, whilst I don't mind paying for the hardware, I don't see the sense in paying an extra subscription for channels I'm already paying to receive. Especially as I'm already quite happy with the picture quality.

The same goes for 3DTV. If we're already paying through the nose for the commercial rights to broadcast the channels, why should we pay more to receive them again?

That's without the other costs incurred - 3DTV may seem like a great idea, if you wish to watch pornography in the privacy of your own home, but the technology only works if you have a new 3DTV television set, which won't be cheap. That's another expense loyal Sky pubs will have to incur, and seems pointless if you're an establishment that uses a projector and screen to show footie in full size, not to mention irritating if you've just shelled out on a new HDTV.

And it's important to remember that, despite all the advancements in 3D technology and the recent flurry of fluffy 3D Disney films this year, you still need to wear glasses to get the full effect, even with your shiny new telly. Can you imagine a pub full of beer swilling football fans all staring at a screen through a set of 1950's specs?

The image is laughable, and just gives the punters an extra missile to throw at your expensive new television in the event of their team not winning.

3DTV might work for some, but if Sky want to help the pub trade and grow their respective businesses they need to stop looking at gimmicks with expensive hidden costs and look at their current pricing structure. Iain Holden, Managing Director of Sky Business, admits they have to look at the way they price and license their service and agrees that the current rateable value calculation is now unfair to some pubs - but they seem to be struggling to come up with an acceptable solution.

Perhaps they ought to look at the market they are aiming for in more detail. Many of us would love to put Sky in, but the cost is either a) too prohibitive or b) the service is an unknown quantity: would it really bring in enough extra punters?

Committing to a service for a minimum of twelve months at full price is too much for a lot of us - if Sky would allow a shorter contract, such as three or even six months to allow us to evaluate the costs and benefits to our business, that would be palatable. Or even a Pay-Per-View system where we could pick and choose sporting events that we know will draw in the customers, priced at something acceptable for one-off events.

Domestic customers get offered all sorts of deals and incentives to get them to sign up, or to stay if they're thinking of leaving; when I called Sky recently for a business quotation the girl at Sky was so inflexible she might as well have been an ironing board.

Throw us an incentive, give us the opportunity to try the service and see if it'll work for our business, make it more affordable for the smaller pubs.

Any of these would help sway me towards putting Sky in my pub. But 3DTV won't, although I am trying to convince the wife it's a good idea for the bedroom...

Which Media Server Would You Use?

2009-09-18T15:02:00.002+01:00

We like music here at The Tharp Arms, but we don’t have anything as gauche as a commercial juke box for customers. Instead, for many years we’ve had a Netgear MP101 Media Player mounted above the bar, drawing from a vast, eclectic selection of music sourced on a pc behind the bar.

Customers have always enjoyed having the Netgear on display because it means that they can look up and see the artist’s name and the track title when they hear something they don’t recognise. Or they can request specific tracks and watch as we select from different options.

Sadly, however, the Netgear recently passed away. We have no idea what happened to it, but it developed a rather worrying fascination with the music of Geri Halliwell and refused to select pretty much anything else after that.

The solution was simple – connect the PC directly to the amp and use Media Player to select the music. Everything worked well for about a day before a customer complained that they could no longer see the tracks that were being played.

We resolved this by moving the monitor and housing it behind the bar, but then we discovered that the text on Windows Media Player is woefully small, and that it was almost impossible to read from the other side of the counter, pretty much negating the use of the service in the first place. iTunes suffers from a similar text-size problem, not to mention an inability – as far as I can tell – to choose specific genres rather than artists and albums.

The particular machine we run our music from is a Vista Home Basic solution, so doesn’t include the full Media Centre application, which has left me running my favourite media application, WinAmp.

WinAmp is brilliant, in so far as it’s probably the easiest media player with which to choose groups of tracks, genres, albums etc, and play them quickly. But most of the display options for WinAmp suffer from an equally small fonted deficiency as other media players. I’ve increased the text size but it just becomes blurry and pushes great swathes of information off the screen, and the only skin I have found that uses a nice, large font is relatively untidy on the screen and a little rough around the edges.

I’ve even looked at Spotify, a great solution with a vast collection of music to choose from – but ultimately a small interface still for reading from a distance.

Today I’m trialling MediaPortal, an open source media centre. Immediate thoughts are that it’s perfect, visually. On screen, it’s neat, clean and displays text at the right font for customers to be able to see what’s playing.

Beyond that it’s a bit rubbish. Despite creating a playlist of 350 songs between the genres Rock and Pop it has spent the last hour refusing to play anything other than Green Day or Paolo Nutini. And there aren’t any media controls to pause, stop or play music, let alone flick to the next track.

The menu options look great, but are slow to respond to any commands and aren’t particularly intuitive, and there doesn’t appear to be any integration with the media controls on my keyboard as there are in WinAmp.

So I’m looking for a bit of advice: what media server solution would you use that meets my requirements: a nice clean, large-fonted interface for visuals behind the bar, whilst being quick and easy to select tracks for the customers. Or does anybody know of a neat, simple skin for WinAmp that does exactly what I need?

In the meantime, I guess the customer’s are going to have to get used to the media interface looking different each time they come in to the pub…

Keeping it in the family

2009-09-09T08:35:00.001+01:00

We were really chuffed this week when Mark’s sister Kelly and her boyfriend, George, asked if they could come and see us to learn about bar work.

Both are off to university next week, Kelly to study Dance Physiotherapy and George to study Sports Science. And they both want to be able to get jobs in bars to be able to support themselves financially – so what better place to learn how to pull pints, change barrels and generally work in a pub than in her big brother’s own establishment.

We wish them both the best of luck in their respective courses. And if they fail that , they were both quite good behind the bar so we’ll be happy to have them back!

Is the till ready yet, Dad?

2009-09-07T11:22:00.001+01:00

I just got a text message asking if I’m free for a bike ride.

As it is, I’m trying to get the new till installed: I’m currently fighting with ten meters of Ethernet cable, three meters of USB extension cables, and a power supply that won’t fit anywhere.

Ali is upstairs decobwebbing the spare bedroom for the imminent arrival of my sister and her boyfriend, who are staying with us this week in order to learn how to work behind a bar before they go to University next week, and the pub opens in half an hour…

In short, getting on my bike today is going to be a tall order!

Mark

Unintentional Double Entendres …

2009-09-05T12:44:00.001+01:00

There are times when you just wish you’d kept your mouth shut… here are twelve of some of the finest double-entendre errors made by commentators. They gave me a giggle this morning, so they should you too!

1. Ted Walsh - Horse Racing Commentator - 'This is really a lovely horse. I once rode her mother.'

2. Murry Mexted, New Zealand Rugby Commentator - 'Andrew Mehrtens loves it when Daryl Gibson comes inside of him.'

3. Pat Glenn, weightlifting commentator - 'And this is Gregoriava from Bulgaria . I saw her snatch this morning and it was amazing!'

4. Harry Carpenter at the Oxford-Cambridge boat race 1977 - 'Ah, isn't that nice. The wife of the Cambridge President is kissing the Cox of the Oxford crew.'

5. US PGA Commentator - 'One of the reasons Arnie (Arnold Palmer) is playing so well is that, before each tee shot, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them. Oh my god !! What have I just said??'

6. Carenza Lewis about finding food in the Middle Ages on 'Time Team Live' said: 'You'd eat beaver if you could get it.'

7. A female news anchor who, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn't, turned to the weatherman and asked, 'So Bob, where's that eight inches you promised me last night?' Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too, because they were laughing so hard!

8. Steve Ryder covering the US Masters: 'Ballesteros felt much better today after a 69 yesterday.'

9. Clair Frisby talking about a jumbo hot dog on 'Look North' said: 'There's nothing like a big hot sausage inside you on a cold night like this. '

10 Mike Hallett discussing missed snooker shots on 'Sky Sports': 'Stephen Hendry jumps on Steve Davis's misses every chance he gets.'

11. Michael Buerk on watching Philippa Forrester cuddle up to a male astronomer for warmth during BBC1's UK eclipse coverage remarked: 'They seem cold out there. They're rubbing each other and he's only come in his shorts.'

12.. Ken Brown commentating on golfer Nick Faldo and his caddie Fanny Sunneson lining-up shots at the Scottish Open: 'Some weeks Nick likes to use Fanny; other weeks he prefers to do it by himself.'

No food Friday 4th September in the evening

2009-09-04T18:05:00.001+01:00

We have to apologise to some of our customers. Taking meals off on a Friday night is not a decision we made lightly, nor is it the best thing to do in terms of business. But there is a reason why we have done it, and we would like to take this opportunity to explain:

Before the start of the summer holidays, Ali and I received an invitation to the evening reception of a friend’s wedding. Ian Macdonald and I had worked together many years ago, and his bride-to-be, Abigail, now works at the same company where Ian and I both worked.

Ian is also part of the family that form the band Macca, who played here at The Tharp last Sunday to a large crowd in the garden, and earlier in the year on Valentine’s Day.

So we know them quite well. To top it off, many of our regular customers from the pub had also been invited to the evening do, and many of my old friends from my days at Unipalm were also going. It’s a great opportunity for Ali and I to socialise with many of the people who keep our pub going throughout the year, without us having to be worried about getting back behind the bar, and also to catch up with some old friends we haven’t seen for a while.

Plans were made for Campbell and Gemma to manage the pub and the kitchen in our absence, and all was looking hunky-dory. Until yesterday. Unfortunately, Gemma has had to make an urgent dash to Liverpool, where she is studying, and this left Ali and I with a dilemma: cancel our plans to go to the party, or take food off.

We’ve decided that we really need a night off after the hard work of a long, but enjoyably busy, summer and that, unfortunately, means taking meals off for one night.

We do apologise to anybody who had planned to dine with us this evening, but we hope you understand the predicament and that you’ll pop back and visit us in the future.

With kind regards

Mark Daniels
Landlord – The Tharp Arms

EPOS systems, PC Solutions, or a birthday present for the wife?

2009-08-19T14:40:00.001+01:00

A couple of years ago one of my barmaids managed to chuck an entire bottle of Gordon’s gin all over my bar till. Accidents happen; these things happen.

The cost of repair was extortionate so my handy till man suggested a refurbishment as a replacement and the deal was done. The till has been perfect, right up until last week when, as twenty cricketers walked in wanting beer and food, the display stopped working. How’s yer luck?

The problem is that, this year, business has actually been growing slowly (what a problem to have), and that means that just using an old calculator-style EPoS system (of which I also have a couple spare) is too restrictive.

The cost to repair the till is bordering on £250 and so I’m looking around at alternative options. One that keeps coming up as I search the Internet is EPoS / till software that can run on a PC.

Now, I have two spare PCs, a spare monitor (not touchscreen) and keyboards and mousies galore sitting around the place. So I’m wondering, based on some of the prices I’ve seen, if I would be better off purchasing said software and installing it on one of these computers, then using that as my till system.

However, I’m unsure a) whether I can then make the PC open a till drawer (surely must be able to?) or b) how viable this is as a solution.

Part of me says just repair the existing unit. Another part says buy brand new. But I’ve been with my wife for fourteen years now and I’ve never been able to buy her a birthday present on her birthday (which is next Tuesday) because the car’s needed its MOT or the insurance has been due or a tyre’s needed replacing. This year, I’ve moved all the car’s bits and pieces around and saved like I’ve never saved before in order to be able to buy her a nice present, only to discover that, now, all the money I’ve saved is going to have to go on repairing or replacing this till!

So does anybody reading this blog have any experience with PC-based EPoS systems. Can I use my PC to open a till drawer? Where do I get a receipt printer from? Is it, even, actually worth my time bothering with all this in the first place?

Instead of buying a new till, should I just get the abacus out and buy my wife a present instead?

The Landlord Says... 10/08/09

2009-08-10T16:11:00.000+01:00

Below is the latest "Landlord Says" column from the Chippenham Village Newsletter, now available to read on line at www.chippenhamcambs.info

It always amuses me when I realise that yet another year has gone by, and it’s no different this year – recently, Ali and I passed our four year anniversary in the pub and, as ever, it’s been wonderful having the opportunity to look after so many of you. 2008 in to 2009 has, as for many, been a much tougher year than previous ones, so thank you to those who have continued to support us and keep the pub a much-loved part of the village.

The reason for thinking about our anniversary this year, however, wasn’t so much because another milestone had passed, but because of a memory it triggered. On our first night in the pub, standing there like hares in the glare of headlights while wearing our bright white t-shirts with Learner badges on them, Ali and I had our first encounter with the cricket team.

It was great fun, up until the moment somebody pointed out that one of the pictures, which had been on the wall for millennia (probably) had been stolen. A member of the Away team had decided it would be an amusing prank to take the item and the Chippenham team quickly stepped into action. The offending player returned the picture and was suitably chastised.

Trophy thefts, however, are quite common. We’ve had it before with the Bagpuss footbrush, and other pictures that used to be up in what is now the dining area. They are part and parcel of pub life, unfortunately, but whilst some think they are great fun they are, in the end, still theft.

On the tenth of July we had another incident of Trophy stealing. Late in the evening, a group of youths were spotted entering the car park and the back door to the pub, which enters the toilet area, was heard to open. Nobody appeared in the bar and after a few moments they were spotted leaving again. On the bar it was assumed that, as often happens, somebody had chosen to use the toilet and then leave again. It wasn’t until later that we spotted that two large Abbot Ale ashtrays were taken from the smoking shelter.

More obscurely, however, two plants and the automatic air freshener had also been taken from the ladies toilet.

We try our best to keep the prices down – indeed, the £1.99 a pint offer and £6.95 a bottle of wine deal is proving so popular the plan is to keep it running until 2010 at least – but when items like this get stolen it’s difficult to justify. Many people think we are given the ashtrays and equipment like air fresheners by the brewery – sadly not. These items cost money, and they aren’t cheap. It’s Ali and I who have to pay for them, and regularly having to replace items like this ultimately has to be reflected in the price of our own product somewhere along the line.

Quite why anybody would want aged ashtrays, or even a device that will make their bedroom smell like a pub toilet, is beyond me. But, if you happen to notice the pungent smell of Davania by éolia, or the scent of stale ash coming from oval, yellowed Abbot Ale emblazoned ashtrays, perhaps you could point out to whoever has them that, actually, they belong to the pub.

It would be nice if whoever took them popped their head around the door and said “sorry, gov, we was just ‘aving a laff,” but if they’re just left on one of the tables in the smoking shelter while nobody’s looking, I’ll be happy with that.

Here’s to another year behind the bar...

The Home Office Alcohol Consultation. Have your say…

2009-07-30T09:03:00.001+01:00

The Home Office is currently working on plans to introduce a “Mandatory Code of Conduct” for the safe and responsible selling of alcohol. As part of their consultation, they’re holding a number of workshops for people from different parts of our industry to attend and voice their opinions on the proposed new code.

Mark recently attended one of these events and wrote about it in his blog on The Publican’s website. You can read this particular article by clicking here.

The new code aims to provide even further restrictions on an already beleaguered trade, reducing the size of measures that would be served to customers and banning what the Home Office term as ‘irresponsible promotions’.

On the surface, it all seems like a sensible idea as it aims to ban such promotions as “all you can drink for £10” and fun promotions that involving having alcohol squirted directly in to a customer’s mouth. We don’t condone these type of promotions, but in reality it serves to do nothing more than take common sense out of the control of the responsible retailer or, indeed, the responsible consumer.

The element of the trade that, once again, seems to get let off lightly in this consultation is the ‘off-trade’, the part of the industry that sells alcohol from establishments that aren’t pubs, bars, restaurants or clubs. In other words, off-licenses and supermarkets.

Whilst these areas undoubtedly have the right to sell alcohol, and will obviously be cheaper than ‘on-trade’ establishments like pubs, the Government fails to admit that they are part of the problems that alcohol does cause. Pre-loading, the act of purchasing alcohol cheaply from an off-license/supermarket and consuming it at home before going out later at night, occurs every weekend and is undoubtedly an issue, but sadly the new proposals ignore much of this.

Pubs are going to have their measures restricted further and will not be allowed to offer promotions to attract new customers under the new proposals, which will simply serve to further increase both the number of pubs that are closing each week and the price of product at the pump. In turn, this will simply create an even bigger divide between pub prices and supermarket prices, as the off-trade will continue to be allowed to offer ‘bulk buy’ deals.

Consultation on the new code, however, isn’t restricted to just those in the trade. Members of the public are also invited to have their say and we would urge you to do so – and quickly. The deadline for the public consultation is next Wednesday, August 5th.

To have your say, simply visit the Home Office’s website on the link below, scroll down the page and select the Public Response document.

Home Office Link: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-2009-alcohol/

Mark’s blog: http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=16&storycode=64634&c=2

Quiz instead of Cricket?

2009-07-17T09:09:00.001+01:00

This week has been The Publican magazine’s “Proud of Pubs” week, with many pubs up and down the country celebrating in all manner of different ways. We’ve had our special guest ale, 1209, on to celebrate pubs and 800 years of Cambridge University and tonight our fun culminates with the biggest event of the week: the charity cricket match between the neighbouring villages of Chippenham and Freckenham.

Unfortunately, however, the weather forecast for tonight is pretty poor – and if it rains as hard as some are forecasting the cricket game won’t be able to take place.

We won’t be defeated, however!

In the event of rain, rather than cricket we will simply be returning to the pub for a tournament of fun pub games, including darts and a quiz.

Either way, head for Chippenham at 6pm this evening (Friday 17th July) – if it’s sunny, head to the cricket ground, and if it’s busy head for the pub … both are marked on the map below; simply click it for more details.

Help us celebrate being Proud of Pubs, and raise money for a worthwhile cause at the same time!

Cricket: the Chuckers v the Frowers

2009-07-16T09:41:00.001+01:00

It’s that time of year again, when the villages of Chippenham and Freckenham get together to chuck a hard piece of leather at a plank of willow and hopefully not break any teeth or fingers in the process.

The Chuckers v Frowers is a charity cricket match between the residents of the village of Chippenham and those of Freckenham, which takes place at the Chippenham Cricket Ground, just on the outskirts of the village, and raises money for the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

Following the match an auction takes place at The Tharp Arms, where bidders can win anything from a bottle of wine to a jar of pickled onions for life. (I won the onions last year.) All proceeds from the auction are donated to the Air Ambulance.

This is the third year of the contest between Chippenham’s Chuckers and Freckenham’s Frowers, with the tournament standing at one victory a piece… this year, one of them has to go in to the lead.

Why not come along to the Chippenham Cricket Ground at 6pm on Friday 17th July to see the action, or pop in to the pub after 8pm to take part in the auction?

We hope to see you there…

Devil's Dyke Morris Men at The Tharp Arms

2009-06-26T09:29:00.000+01:00

Last night, the Devil's Dyke Morris Men descended on The Tharp Arms in their annual visit, and the whole village came out to see their performance.

Once again a great night was had by all, so we'd like to say thanks to them for their hard work and entertainment.

More pics can be found by visiting: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/thetharparms/DevilSDykeMorrisMen2009#

It's Crunch Time

2009-06-12T11:59:00.000+01:00

We've had to be patient, but finally we've managed to achieve something most people thought would never happen again this side of a Wetherspoon's outlet: beer for £1.99 a pint.

Thanks to the generosity of our landlords, Greene King, we've been able to put on a new deal for the summer that means we can pass some great discounts on to you, our customers.

Soft drink lovers will be able to enjoy a 16oz glass of Coke or Diet Coke for just 99p from next week, rather than the usual £1.50, and wine lovers will be able to enjoy the Giotto house range (Pinot Grigio, Merlot and Zinfandel Rose) for just £6.45 a bottle.

Meanwhile, cask ale lovers will be able to enjoy an excellent pint of IPA for just £1.99 and lager drinkers get the same price for a pint of Carlsberg.

These deals will be in place for at least the summer, and from July they'll be accompanied by some excellent meal deals. Keep your eye on our blog for more details...

The Landlord Says... June/July Edition

2009-06-03T01:05:00.000+01:00

The following article has just been printed in the latest copy of the Chippenham Village Newsletter, which will be online to view very soon:

Imagine for a moment, if you will, that I'm going to say the next line in the manner of that chap who does the voiceovers for the film trailers at the cinema (you know, deep, bassy, authoritative ... not at all like my usual Alan Dedicoat wheedle):

"This summer, in a village pub near you, IPA and Carlsberg for less than two pounds a pint."

Okay, it doesn't look quite as impressive in print as it did while that was playing through my head, but hopefully it might have caught some people's attention anyway.

It won't have escaped the attention of too many, however, that the government is currently struggling to make ends meet. Somewhere in the midst of a furore surrounding how much they've claimed for living in two houses, they're trying to put money back in to the coffers - and one of the things they hit in this year's budget was, unsurprisingly, alcohol.

At a time when the trade was desperately seeking a reprieve, we weren't offered it, but Ali & I have been working hard with the brewery to see what we can do about pricing, and this month we think we've come up with a bit of a doozy. You might expect to see offers like this in town high streets, but it's a bit of a first for sleepy little village pubs and we're quite pleased to have been able to get in on the act.

We've managed to negotiate a fantastic new deal on some of our products and, as long as we can prove to the brewery that we can support these new prices with an appropriate level of business, they should be here for a little while. With any luck, it should all be in place by mid- to late-June.

And that brings me on to another subject about the pub trade. I read a report recently, commissioned by Carling, which discovered that in Cambridgeshire 21% of the county's residents have never set foot in a local pub. Which is a shame, because most pubs are great places to meet up with friends, have a nice meal or just enjoy local company - and even get to meet new people.

We've got a great summer coming up. The Met Office is predicting a long, hot one - but we know how reliable they can be - and this year our August Bank Holiday weekend will be bigger and better than ever before, finishing off - as it will be - with the band Macca playing live in the car park.

They were such a great hit when they were here on Valentine's Day that we couldn't help but invite them back and give them a bit more space.

With all the hard work that's been going on getting this all together, Ali and I are planning on taking a short family break and spending some much-needed time with Malachy and Jacob before the summer really gets under way. The poor mites haven't had the chance to spend much time with us recently, and I suspect Jacob is actually beginning to think his Nintendo DS is his true father.

It's a chance for us all to take a break together, but I know what holidaying with my children is like. The August Bank Holiday will probably be much more relaxing...

Chippenham Park Honey

2009-06-02T11:14:00.000+01:00

Nothing beats a good bit of honey, whatever your tipple, but at this time of year if you suffer from hayfever, as the landlord of The Tharp Arms does, sometimes nature is the best source for a remedy.

Honey has long been touted as a great cure from nature for many of its allergies, but for it to be effective against hayfever ideally it should be honey from local bees. After all, it's the pollen used to make it that's causing you to sneeze...

And at The Tharp Arms you can't get more local than our Chippenham Park Honey, sourced and bottled right up the road (less than a mile) from us!

Our Chippenham Park Honey is on sale now at the bar for just £2.50 a jar.

Petanque - Tharp Arms 'B' v Maids Head

2009-06-02T09:13:00.000+01:00

We might have the most ornate scoreboards in the Newmarket and District Petanque League, but sadly they were no good to the Tharp Arms 'B' Team last night when they took on the Maids Head in the Chestnut Tree K.O. Trophy.

Despite a valiant effort from the Division 3 Tharp Arms team against their Division 1 competition, the Tharp Arms 'B' lost 3-1 to their opponents.

Unfortunately, the Home line of the new scoreboards on either side didn't get chance to shine, except in one game.

Better luck next week, boys - Tharp Arms 'B' will be playing home against the Chestnut Tree.

Getting up to speed

2009-06-01T16:24:00.000+01:00

We must apologise to anybody who's taken a look at this blog recently and noticed that, well, nothing's been done to it in almost two months!

The aim of this blog is to keep people up to date with what's going on, but the plan is also to use it to let you know about things that have happened, too ... so do keep checking back - we promise the content will be updated much more regularly from now on!

Cask Ale Week – all real ales just £2 a pint!

2009-04-06T12:31:00.001+01:00

Who can say we’re not generous!

This week is Cask Ale Week, celebrating all that is worthy about Britain’s National Drink – real ale.

For the next seven days, 6th April to 13th April, pubs across the land will be participating in events to promote these wonderful drinks, whose names, colours and flavours vary wildly and imaginatively.

At The Tharp Arms, we’ve got Greene King’s IPA, Abbot Ale and St Edmunds on draught, accompanied by Bath Ales’ Gem, which is proving very popular with its rich aroma of hops and deep bitter-sweet finish.

And so there’s no discrimination between ‘premium’ and ‘standard’ bitters, all of them are available to you for just £2.00 a pint! That’s a saving of up to £1.00 a pint in some cases.

So pop along and join in the fun and help us celebrate Cask Ale Week – not to mention Easter itself! – with these great drinks and great prices.

- - - -

Useful links to find out more:

Cask Ale Week – http://www.caskaleweek.co.uk/
The Tharp Arms – http://www.thetharparms.com/
The Publican – http://www.thepublican.com/

The Landlord Says…

2009-04-03T09:31:00.001+01:00

Mark’s Landlord Says column, below, is in the next issue of the Chippenham Village Newsletter…

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The weeks since I last wrote seem to have whipped by in a bit of a whirlwind. When last I sat here trying to think of what to put on paper, the weather was positively negative, my computers were all crying mutiny and Barrack Obama had just been inaugurated.

Since then, I’ve had barely a moment to sit and think about anything. We had Macca play on Valentine’s Day and I’m sure those of you who came along will agree it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening; the band had a great time too and have promised to play here again later this year. In fact, so positive was the response we received to having live music in the pub that we’re talking to several bands about them playing during the course of the year, so keep an eye out on the pub boards for more information.

Along with Valentine’s Day and Mothering Sunday and the Cricket Club Meal, it’s been an enjoyable couple of months but one of the most entertaining evenings has to have been the Chippenham Talent Night. What a fantastic evening. A selection of some well-rehearsed, brilliantly-performed sketches and musical numbers that just goes to show how much fun and enjoyment we can have even in these troubled times. Adam and I thoroughly enjoyed running the bar for the night and I’m sure you’ll all join me in saying a hearty well-done to all those involved in putting the event together.

I was also lucky enough this month to be invited to The Publican Awards as a guest of The Publican magazine. It’s effectively the Oscars of the pub world and Ali and I had a wonderful time, surrounded by the big and the small from the industry. What struck me most, however, was the level of positivity coming from the people who were there, no matter what sector of the industry they were in.

Awards were given to pubs, breweries, pub companies and individuals for their sheer hard work and dedication to the trade in the past twelve months. Our industry receives a lot of negative press at the moment, often suffering at the mercy of journalists who seek out the worst stories and tout the supermarkets and the smoking ban as harbingers of death for village pubs. Hardly a day goes by without a mention in a newspaper somewhere of yet another pub shutting its doors for good and it can sometimes make getting up in the morning difficult.

It was nice to see so many people in the industry getting awarded for the good side of the business, and for doing something well in the face of adversity.

Despite all this great news, however, it didn’t escape my notice that Ali has been in a slight mood with me for a while, and I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why. Eventually she thrust the Valentine’s Card I’d given her in February in to my hand and walked off. I couldn’t work out what was wrong with it – I’d used Moonpig, the online card agency, to create this utterly perfect gift of soppiness.

With Moonpig, you have the ability to upload your own photos to certain cards and they provide you with suitably mushy text for you to edit and play around with to your heart’s content, and I had done so with utter relish. Except that I had forgotten to replace the name Moonpig used with my wife’s.

Consequently, she got a lovely Valentine’s Card, resplendent in as much yuck as I could chuck at it, addressed to My Dear Katie...

A load of old balls

2009-03-25T15:18:00.001Z

Newmarket’s controversial roundabout system continues to cause, well, controversy by now appearing to visualise exactly what it represents: a load of old balls.

I’ve only been in the area ten years, but when I moved here the system worked quite well. Where Prezzo’s is now was the ATS Tyre unit, and that central island around the Conservative Club was a one way system. You couldn’t actually get it wrong.

However, since Waitrose arrived in 2004, the junction has been nothing but one cock-up after another. One way systems have become two way systems, then one way, then two way. It’s as if the council have a mountain of money that they want to waste, despite impending financial doom.

Now they’ve decided to build a big roundabout at the Clock Tower. Apparently there used to be one there, years ago…

Somebody must be able to see what’s happening here, but despite the public opposition to it the scheme has gone ahead. And now the roundabout has been decorated with balls. Twelve of them, to be precise, apparently representing a clock face. But it has to be said they’re pretty repulsive to look at, are unsympathetic to the architecture around them and, at £900 a pop, a genuine waste of money.

You can find out more, see pictures and read the full story on the Cambridge News website.

Adam Mills has set up a petition on the Government’s Number 10 website, campaigning for the balls to be taken out immediately. It’s a great idea – and anybody wanting to sign-up to the petition can do so by clicking here.

It has to be said, Adam, that while it’s a good idea, if you really want this load of old balls to be removed forthwith, perhaps you should have set the deadline for the end of the petition a little sooner than March 2010…

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Newmarketballs/