The Willow Tree Blog

Cutting the cost of background music

2012-02-07T13:33:00.003Z

It might surprise you to know that we have to pay rather a lot of money to The Performing Rights Society (PRS) and also to PPL in order to be able to play background music at The Willow Tree. In fact, the latest licence fees total over £600 per year, the majority of which goes to PRS.

Both PPL & PRS base their fees on the size of the premises and in the case of PRS the number of rooms in which copyrighted music is played. Neither organisation take any account of the number of hours that the business is open. Since we only usually open for 4 hours in the evening, we pay a lot more "per song" than a business which is open all day. We've argued that we should pay a reduced fee because we play less music - but PRS and PPL are not open to negotiating on that issue.

No one comes into The Willow Tree to listen to the music, it's only there to break the silence and to make a little bit of atmosphere. It is certainly not worth £600/year for this! To put it in context, if we sell around 200 pints of beer each week in the pub, you could consider about 6p from the profit in each pint paying for the background music!

So we have decided to cancel our PRS and PPL licences and instead we have found a source of royalty-free music at a much reduced cost. While the royalty-free music may be by unknown artists, it is perfectly adequate for our purposes and since we've been playing it at The Willow Tree, no one has spotted the difference.

We have signed-up with Jamendo and they provide us with thousands of royalty-free songs and music across a wide range of genres for, in our case, a fee of 48 Euros per year. (The fee is higher for larger premises or multiple outlets etc.) Music can be streamed from their website, or you can download the songs as we have done and play them by whatever means is suitable. We stream them from a PC to a wireless media player in the bar.

A solution such as Jamendo won't be appropriate for many pubs where they have a juke box, live bands, DJs etc ... but for smaller country pubs and restaurants it can save you a lot of unnecessary expense.

Handley's "Barnby Bitter"

2011-09-17T15:19:00.002+01:00

Our second beer is now on the bar at The Willow Tree. "Barnby Bitter" is a mid-brown, session bitter made with traditional English malts and hops - including Maris Otter malted barley and Fuggle & Golding hops. 3.6% abv.

Handley's "Wash Sparky"

2011-09-12T18:16:00.004+01:00

Our first commercial brew is now on the bar at The Willow Tree. Handley's Wash Sparky is a 4.1% abv deep red porter-style beer, with chocolate malt, roasted barley and a hint of peat-smoked whisky malt.

The beer is named in memory of our much-missed friend, Michael - who was an electrician and sailed on The Wash, hence his online nickname of Wash Sparky.

Our first ever pint!

2011-08-10T17:06:00.003+01:00

The first ever pint of an experimental brew from Handley's Brewery was pulled today! We had many issues with our first brew, but it still produced some very encouraging results. This beer has only been cask-conditioned for a week - really it could have done with longer, but I wanted to try it before starting again with the same recipe - but it still seems to have conditioned quite well. The head is good, the taste is fine, just the clarity isn't perfect - some of the mistakes I made in the brewing process may have contributed to a slight haze.

The first test-cask of Barnby Best Bitter in the cellar, tapped & connected.

The first pint, clearing on the bar.

The first pint, lacing on the side of the glass - always a good sign.

Hopefully, this will be on the bar for real next month.

Brewery Arrival

2011-07-21T17:49:00.003+01:00

Today saw the delivery and initial installation of our brewing equipment.

After unpacking we started assembling the various bits & pieces. (Well I watched while the expert showed me what to do).

We were missing a couple of small connectors so they will follow on in the post in the next couple of days, but otherwise it's almost ready to use.

I now need to dismantle, clean and reassemble the brewery a couple of times to make sure that I know what I'm doing, before testing it all for water-tightness and getting ready for our first experimental brew some time next week.

Handley's Brewery

2011-07-13T09:55:00.002+01:00

We are calling our new brewery "Handley's", because of course, that's our name! But there is also another reason - Handley is a name associated with the very early history of commercial brewing in this area.

According to "The History of Brewing in Newark-on-Trent" by D S Marshall, the first significant brewery in Newark was the Town Wharf Brewery, founded in 1766 by Samuel Sketchley (from Burton) with the financial backing of local businessman William Handley. The brewery was sited behind Handley House on Northgate on land running down to the Trent.

After William Handley's death in 1798, his brother Benjamin took over, and following the retirement of Samuel Sketchley and other partners the Handley's were left in full control of the brewery from 1808.

Over the next 50 years the brewery prospered and grew - trading with all parts of the UK as well as exporting beer to Northern Europe and even Russia. The owners invested profits in other business activities - including becoming timber merchants, wine merchants and cotton manufacturers.

In 1856, the Handley's sold the brewing rights to Richard Warwick - who had been the manager of Handley's Newark bank. The Warwick family (and later Warwick & Richardsons) expanded the business greatly, leading to the construction of new brewing and malting facilities in Newark in the late 19th century - including the Northgate Brewery - built on land purchased from one Philip Handley.

We're obviously doing things on a very tiny scale, but we are reviving a very old name in the long history of brewing in and around Newark.

The Brewhouse - Before & After

2011-07-11T15:21:00.001+01:00

The brewhouse is almost ready for the brewery to be installed, but we are waiting for the floor to be fitted. This picture illustrates the changes over the past 2 months.

Our first casks have arrived.

2011-07-11T15:19:00.002+01:00

Ten new plastic casks arrived today. These will be used to cask-condition and then dispense our beer in the not-too-distant future!

Water analysis

2011-07-10T18:11:00.006+01:00

The picture below shows our analysis of Barnby tap water in relation to "mash pH" - an important factor in making sure the beer we produce tastes great! The "nomograph" is taken from John J Palmer's "How to Brew" and the coloured lines show our results.

The green and blue lines connect measurements we have made with the water test kit, analysis from the lab and figures from Severn Trent to show that a mash of all base (pale ale) malt would have a pH of 5.9. This means that a relatively dark coloured beer - see the colour above the 5.9 mark- would bring the pH down to the ideal range (around 5.4). If we want to brew lighter coloured beers then we need to adjust the water as shown by the red and yellow lines. In this example, we would need to increase the Calcium ion concentration by about 180ppm to give us an amber coloured beer. The main thing to note is that the water here is fine for brewing and can be easily modified to brew the range of beers we are hoping to make.

Water for Brewing

2011-06-27T13:16:00.002+01:00

It's really important that the water we use for making beer has the right mineral content for the kind of beer we want to produce. For Pale Ale (Bitter) styles we need the water to be like it is in Burton, for darker beers it needs to be more like the water of London or Dublin. The first step to getting this right is to analyse the tap water in Barnby, so we sent off a sample to Murphy & Son's laboratory in Nottingham.

At first we got some shocking results - with Chloride levels (from Sodium Chloride, Calcium Chloride etc) being way too high - in fact outside the standard that the water companies should meet. However, having had a second sample analysed it turns out that this was a lab error and our Chloride levels are 14ppm rather than the 260ppm originally reported.

So from the lab analysis I now know Sulphate, Chloride, Calcium, Magnesium and Calcium Carbonate levels in our water. From data supplied by Severn Trent I know the level of Sodium and the hardness of the water as Calcium Carbonate.

The one thing that neither the lab nor Severn Trent can provide is the "alkalinity as CaCO3" figure - something that is important to know in order to get the mash pH correct (and it varies depending on the malts used - darker beers require a different pH to lighter ones because of the acidity of the darker malts). Googling this question leads to the solution of using an aquarium test kit to measure the alkalinity yourself! http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/home_brew_faq-water-alkalinity.htm

So the test kit is on order and I'll hopefully soon have the missing piece of data that will allow me to complete the water treatment calculations for the various beers we are hoping to produce.

Brewery progress ...

2011-06-14T17:59:00.002+01:00

Work has started on sorting out the plumbing and installing the new insulation in preparation for the hygienic wall cladding panels.

Big plans for a little brewery

2011-06-08T14:22:00.003+01:00

There's not much to see yet, but soon our disused storeroom will have been converted into a very small microbrewery where we'll be making our own beers for sale in the pub.

Our current target for commercial brewing to begin is late September, but we'll be doing lots of test brews before then.

We'll keep our blog/website/facebook pages up to date as the project develops and Handley's Brewery at The Willow Tree is launched.

Chimney Repairs

2011-06-08T14:16:00.002+01:00

One of the pub's chimneys was badly damaged by the cold weather last Winter, after years of 'temporary repairs' - so this year we had to bite the bullet and have it properly rebuilt. Scaffolding had to be erected as the old chimney was dismantled and reconstructed brick by brick - using the right materials to maintain the same character of the original building.

Bar changes

2011-02-08T17:16:00.003Z

Before the end of next week we're making a couple of changes to the draught products on sale in the bar. We are replacing Kronenbourg 1664 lager and Strongbow cider with Beck's Vier and Thatchers Gold.

Thatchers is a family-run business (and has been for over 100 years) and they make their cider in Somerset using English apples exclusively, many grown in their own 180 acres of orchard. We feel this is a good match to the local beers and food that we serve in terms of provenance and tradition.

Beck's Vier is a German pilsner lager, brewed in Bremen in accordance with the 'purity laws' that mean a beer can only be made from the 4 ingredients: water, hops, yeast & barley. At 4% this gives a premium lager taste, without the higher alcohol content of UK-brewed alternatives such as Stella & Kronenbourg.

Kate Elizabeth

2010-12-03T00:18:00.002Z

Kate Elizabeth was born at 2:54 on 1st December by C-section weighing 9lb12oz. Kathryn & Kate are both doing well but will be in hospital until the weekend for Kathryn to recover from the op. They are both amazing.

Big Curry, Big Success, Big Thanks

2010-10-05T16:48:00.002+01:00

We raised a total of £1,775 at this year's Big Curry on 30th September!

A big thank you to our generous suppliers who donated food and raffle prizes, our staff who worked for free on the night, our volunteers who helped us prepare and serve the food, everyone else who gave us raffle prizes and donations ... and everyone who came on the night and helped us reach our final total. Well done and thank you!

Sold Out

2010-09-22T13:59:00.002+01:00

We've sold all 100 tickets for our curry night next Thursday in aid of ABF The Soldiers' Charity ... so that's the first £1000 raised! Thank you everyone! We will of course be trying to extract more cash from you for the raffle on the night :-)

Another old pic of The Willow Tree

2010-08-04T00:47:00.003+01:00

We've been loaned another old photograph of the pub (Thanks, Lisa!) showing a second door at the front - before it was bricked up. In this picture there are two signs attached to the front of the pub. This was clearly before any of the building's brickwork was rendered or painted. We don't know when this picture was taken but it may have been in the 1950s or 1960s.

2010-07-27T18:21:00.004+01:00

We're on facebook! Clicking the facebook logo below should take you to our page ...

Big Curry 2010 - 30th September

2010-07-27T17:49:00.005+01:00

We're holding another fund-raising curry evening for ABF The Soldiers' Charity at The Willow Tree on Thursday 30th September from 7p.m.

Tickets are on sale now from the pub and cost £10 each - with every penny of the ticket price going to the charity. With ticket sales, additional donations and a raffle on the night last year we raised over £1,300 and we'll be doing our best to do the same or better this year.

If you'd like to buy a ticket or donate a raffle prize, please pop in and see us. Thanks!

New menu, new website

2010-04-30T02:02:00.002+01:00

We have just uploaded a completely new website and updated versions of all our menus. The new dinner menu is similar to our previous one, but now we have included a lot more detail about the 'provenance' of our food and more details of our suppliers. We have included a page that tries to explain why we are different to many other pubs & restaurants. The website needs some updated photos and we'll try to add them in the coming weeks.

Saint George's Day 2010

2010-04-24T01:21:00.002+01:00

Thanks to everyone who came to our St George's day party this year. I hope that you all enjoyed the evening as much as we did , despite *some* of the singing :-)

The next event will probably be a charity curry night next month .... watch this space for details.

Thanks again,

Brett

Skiing Videos

2010-04-24T01:18:00.003+01:00

A couple of our regulars who like skiing ...

http://www.youtube.com/user/BAINBRIDCHICK

That's got to be sooooo cold!

Four Star Hygiene Rating for The Willow Tree

2010-03-16T10:31:00.003Z

We had our first inspection by the local council environmental health officer earlier this year and we are pleased to announce that we achieved a four star "very good" rating. This is the certificate that we'll be displaying in the pub when we find a suitable frame!

You can see ratings for all food businesses in the area at:
www.nsdc.info/ScoresOnTheDoors/start.aspx

This blog has moved

2010-03-15T17:42:00.001Z

This blog is now located at http://willowtreebarnby.blogspot.com/.
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New Dinner Menu

2010-01-24T02:05:00.002Z

It's not been updated on the website yet, but we have launched an updated dinner menu. Also, we've also had to increase some of our beer prices (for the 1st time in 2 years) because of the government's sneaky VAT and alcohol duty manipulation (boo hiss).

New menu items include:

- a welcome return of the garlic chicken breast supreme
- seared scallops on Bury black pudding with minted pea puree
- Somerset goat's cheese and red onion tart
- Local gammon steak with fried duck's egg

We've now got rid of all imported main ingredients so that our menu really represents the best of local and UK food. If you're worried about your 'carbon footprint' then come and eat with us, because we keep it to an absolute minimum! :-)

Bollywood New Year's Eve Party Pics

2010-01-03T09:22:00.004Z

We had a fantastic party at The Willow Tree on New Year's Eve. Thanks to everyone who came and especially to those who put together such great costumes!

Christmas Day Opening Proves Popular!

2009-12-29T10:48:00.003Z

We opened the pub for drinks at lunchtime on Christmas day (it has always been closed in recent years) and we were packed full of locals from 12 until after 1pm. It was fantastic to see so many people from the village - and walkers from further afield - popping in for a drink before going home for their Christmas dinner. Thanks to everyone for your support and I suspect we'll be doing something similar again next year.

Top Marks for our Pub Quiz

2009-12-15T00:33:00.002Z

The current edition of Newark CAMRA's publication, the BGP, has its first review of local pub quizzes and scores The Willow Tree's quiz at 5 out of 5.

Thanks to the reviewers for their appreciation of our quiz and our beer ... and this is their final assessment (not printed in the BGP due to lack of space):

"This is a high quality quiz, set by the landlord, which really makes you think. Well kept beers (albeit a limited range). A really enjoyable evening out. RECOMMENDED

Painting the Pub

2009-11-02T12:27:00.003Z

You may have noticed that The Willow Tree has undergone a bit of a makeover in recent weeks ....

Before:

After:

Christmas and New Year

2009-10-14T14:37:00.002+01:00

The Christmas party menu has been available on the website for a couple of weeks and we've now decided on our plans for the New Year. Brochures will be available in the pub from today.

The plan is ...

- Christmas menu available throughout December. £17 for two courses and £22 for three. Advanced bookings only, £5 per head deposit to secure the booking. To see the menu click here.

- We are breaking with previous years and opening (briefly) for drinks on Christmas Day. We'll be open at 11am, and closing at 1pm.

- We are closed all day on Boxing Day.

- On New Year's Eve we're having a Bollywood/India themed party, starting at 7pm and finishing late. Tickets are available from today at £10 each to include a drink on arrival and a curry. We'll be making a selection of both mild and spicy curries, poppadums, bhajiis, rice etc and they'll be available from 8pm. Then from 9pm we'll be powering up the Karaoke machine!

- We're closed all day on New Year's Day.

- Please note that we are also closing from Monday 4th January 2010 and reopening at 7pm on Wednesday 13th January 2010.

We hope to see as many of you as possible over the Christmas & New Year!

Brett

Pink Night

2009-10-12T20:36:00.002+01:00

Last Friday at The Willow Tree we held a Pink Night to raise funds for Newark breast cancer screening services, organised by Chris Fergusson. Through donations on the night we managed to raise over £750. It did mean I had to wear something a bit embarrassing ... but all in a good cause!

The New Car Park Sign

2009-10-12T20:33:00.003+01:00

A week later, and the main pub sign at the end of the car park was also in place.

At last ... new signs

2009-09-20T13:55:00.002+01:00

They've been a long time coming, but our new pub signs are finally starting to go up. The one on the end of the pub went up on Saturday and the old swinging sign has been taken down ready to be replaced in a few days after the post has been painted.

Replacing the signs was top of our job list when we moved in ..... almost 2 years later and it's finally happening!

Many thanks to Bateman's who did the new signs for us.

Pirates in the Pub

2009-09-20T13:51:00.002+01:00

Apparently, 19th September is 'Talk Like a Pirate Day' ..... and we were visited by a band of cut-throats on Saturday lunchtime collecting money for charity and being generally pirate-like.

Reviews

2009-09-02T23:58:00.003+01:00

I've added a "Reviews" button to our website in the hope of encouraging people to post reviews of The Willow Tree, and to read reviews posted by others. Rather than have our own comments page, I'm leaving it to independent, external sites.

So far, we've had one review on 'diningpubs.co.uk' but hopefully people will add more over time. Three people have scored us at 'beerintheevening.co.uk' but without leaving any comments.

We do have a very nice mention in the August edition of Newark CAMRA's "Beer Gutter Press"....

Wedding Reception at The Willow Tree

2009-09-02T23:41:00.003+01:00

Last weekend we held our first ever wedding reception since we've been at The Willow Tree. The happy couple had unfortunately been let down by another venue and so we were asked if we could manage the event just a few weeks before the big day. The pub wasn't big enough to seat 60 for the wedding breakfast so everything was set up in a marquee in our car park ...

Inside the marquee ...

And this is our little catering area ...

Everything went to plan on the day and a good time was had by all. Congratulations to Karen & Paul and best wishes for your future together. Thanks for choosing the Willow Tree!

ABF News

2009-08-25T14:20:00.002+01:00

It was nice to see that our Big Curry got a mention in the Summer edition of the Army Benevolent Fund's newsletter (bottom left pic) ...

Fixing the damp problem ...

2009-08-20T15:21:00.003+01:00

We had four days of upheaval last week as the plaster was removed (covering the entire pub in a thick layer of dust despite the plastic sheets that were supposed to stop it), the walls injected, a damp proofing slurry applied and finally the walls replastered.

This is what the damp was doing to the restaurant wall ...

When the plaster was removed you could see where a door and window used to be (the wall was originally an external one).

The other area near the fireplace where plaster was removed revealed some very dodgy brickwork ...

After patching up, applying the damp proofing and replastering ....

Once it's dried out we can paint it and fit new skirting boards. The damp proof treatment is guaranteed for 20 years ... but of course it will probably just move to other walls now.

Rising Damp

2009-07-29T11:17:00.003+01:00

The plaster on one of the walls in the restaurant started cracking a while ago ... and the cracks have recently become wider and deeper.

Investigations have revealed serious rising damp all the way along the wall. It seems from talking to some customers that they can remember problems with the same wall going back many years, and looking at the plasterwork it's clear that many previous attempts have been made to patch up the damage.

Well, rather than wait for the plaster to fall off completely, we're biting the bullet and getting the wall fixed properly. The restaurant area will be closed on Monday 10th August for three days while the wall is stripped right back and a damp proof course is fitted along with new plasterwork that will prevent the salts from coming to the surface. This should provide a complete solution to the problem and will hopefully mean that new decoration to the wall will last for many years to come.

Swallows 2009

2009-07-05T16:33:00.003+01:00

The swallows have been back to their nest this year, and the first brood of two have already flown. This is a parent feeding the chicks on 16th June ...

And then on 27th June the chicks left the nest for the first time and had flying lessons ...

And soon they'd reached the top of the smoking shelter ...

Not long after this they were flying all over the place.

New dinner menu

2009-05-07T17:12:00.002+01:00

We're launching an updated dinner menu on Monday 11th May. We've been working on several new dishes over the past few weeks and many of these will be appearing on the new menu. There won't be any change to our best-sellers ... the local steaks and steak & ale pie ... but most of the other main course dishes are being changed or replaced. We're also revamping the starters and desserts.

I'll post the full menu on the website on Monday, but here are a few tasters of what to expect ...

- Warm pigeon breast salad with bacon & black pudding
- Home made salmon & haddock fish cake with sweet chilli sauce
- Flat mushroom filled with herb & garlic crumb
- A new vegetarian dish based on mushroom stroganoff with mustard mash
- Mozzarella stuffed chicken
- Ginger & orange duck breast

St George's Day

2009-04-24T01:13:00.004+01:00

We had our 'indoor street party' for St George's day today and it was a very enjoyable evening! The pub was trimmed in red & white ...

and we ate fish & chips, sausage & mash, and chicken tikka masala. There was a singalong ... including Land of Hope & Glory, There'll Always be an England, Jerusalem etc .... even On Ilkley Moor B'aht 'at ...

#

Many thanks to everyone for coming along to celebrate St george's day with us!

Barnby on the Radio

2009-04-22T00:50:00.003+01:00

We opened early on Tuesday 21st April so that villagers could come and listen to Chris Fergusson's programme on Boundary Sound (the Newark radio station) where she toured Barnby interviewing various village residents.

This week we heard Chris' chats with local residents about the church [Yvonne], the old vicarage [John & Sheila], the village hall [Jill & Joyce] and Gables Farm [Pam and her son Steve].

Next week the tour continues ... and we'll hear some voices from the pub :-)

The Big Curry - Pictures

2009-04-14T17:52:00.002+01:00

I've put a few photos from the event on our main website - click here.

And here are a few more ...

The Big Curry - Update

2009-04-10T01:36:00.002+01:00

Our 'Big Curry' evening has been a tremendous success .... thanks to the support of our customers, staff and suppliers we managed to raise just over £1,300 for the Army Benevolent Fund! Thank you and well done everyone!!!!

The Big Curry!

2009-03-18T17:26:00.002Z

We were asked by a supporter of the Army Benevolent Fund in the village if we'd help to raise money for this charity by hosting a curry night during April. The ABF have been supporting soldiers in need, former soldiers and their families for the past 65 years. We were only too happy to say yes and we're very pleased to be supporting the ABF's "BIG CURRY" initiative at The Willow Tree on Thursday 9th April from 7p.m.

Tickets are on sale now at £10 each, and every penny of this goes directly to the ABF. We're able to do this thanks to the support of our suppliers - especially F Doncaster's Butchers of Newark - and the generosity of our staff who have volunteered to work for free on that evening.

So if you fancy a curry on the Thursday before Easter and would like to help raise lots of money for the ABF, please come along and pick up a ticket! Thanks!

St George's Day

2009-02-26T20:36:00.002Z

We're celebrating St George's day at The Willow Tree this year with an "Indoor Street Party". We'll be serving some of England's favourite dishes (Fish & Chips, Chicken Tikka Masala ...) and favourite drinks (Cask Ale, Gin & Tonic ...) along with English music and a street party atmosphere. £10 per head for a drink + main course, Thursday 23rd April 2009 from 7p.m. Details on our website here.

Take-Away Fish & Chips

2009-02-26T20:17:00.003Z

We've been trialling a take-away service over the past few weeks, and it's gone down well ... so now we're making it a permanent addition to what we do at The Willow Tree Inn.

Take-aways are available for collection from 7pm Monday to Thursday and from 6pm on Friday. (We decided not to do it on a Saturday as I might struggle to cope when it gets too busy!) Just give us a call with your order and come and collect it from the pub.

The menu is available to download here.

We're doing the fish in a freshly-made beer-batter - so it's very light & crispy. There's a choice of Coley (lower price and very nice tasting) or the more traditional Haddock. The chips are twice-fried, made with Lincolnshire Maris Pipers. The sausage is 100% pork (except for some sage, salt & pepper) and made using local pork by GH Porter in Newark.

Bateman's Brewery Visit

2009-02-04T10:47:00.002Z

A minibus full of regulars had a tour of the Bateman's Brewery last night, and a taste of their beers along with entertainment from "Dr Busker".

The brewery is based around a 200-year old windmill which now has a bar inside.

This XB isn't quite ready to drink yet ...

but there was plenty available that was ready ...

Dr Busker played all evening ...

... and we all had a great time ....

Many thanks to Bateman's for inviting us!

Quiz night - one year on!

2009-01-04T17:31:00.002Z

As usual, this evening we'll be holding our pub quiz. We started it on the first Sunday of 2008 and suddenly we've reached the first Sunday of 2009!

Thanks to all our regular teams for supporting the quiz ... and we always welcome new teams to come and play. Don't expect things to be too easy though, we do try and make the quizzes challenging ... but also lots of fun to play.

Roof repairs

2009-01-04T17:27:00.002Z

Every time it rains we find a new leak in the roof somewhere - one of the joys of owning such an old building. We've been getting some parts of the roof repaired ... removing sections of tiling, replacing the worn-out felt, then re-fitting everything. The front of the building now seems to be watertight but there's still a bit more work to be done at the back.

New Furniture

2008-11-24T13:03:00.003Z

Last week we finally received the new pub furniture that we'd ordered a couple of months ago. We've replaced the rickety, old wooden stools with some comfy new ones ...

... and we've also got a seating area around a coffee table in the main bar.

It didn't take long before everything was being put to good use ...

1st Anniversary at The Willow Tree

2008-11-13T11:04:00.002Z

On 6th November we celebrated our first year as owners of The Willow Tree Inn. It was great to see so many of our regular customers come and celebrate with us - we really appreciated all the good wishes. Thanks to everyone!

Old Pictures of the Pub

2008-10-20T14:31:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we were fortunate enough to be shown some old pictures of The Willow Tree by a relative of a previous landlady. They date from around the mid-60s.

It seems the pub certainly did have more prominent signs in the past, including a hanging one close to the front door.

Both fires burning ...

2008-10-04T17:55:00.002+01:00

It's started to get a lot colder in the past few days and this weekend we've had both fires burning for the first time, to try and make the pub as warm and welcoming as we can!

Eat The Seasons

2008-09-30T18:05:00.004+01:00

We're trying to keep the food menu at The Willow Tree seasonal ... and we're still learning what's available at its best at what times during the year. I use eattheseasons.co.uk to check what ingredients are in season at any time. British lamb is just going out of season (mid-October-ish) and so we're going to drop the leg of lamb steaks from the menu. It's being replaced with locally made Lincolnshire Sausages - made using local pork - and served on a herb mash with cider gravy. We've had that on as a special a few times and it's always gone down well.

Now that maincrop UK potatoes are back in season I've started making my own chips every day. This is quite a bit of extra work because all the potatoes are peeled and chipped by hand, but the feedback so far has been very positive. The chips are twice-fried ... once at a low temperature before we open, then at a higher temperature during service. This gives you a really crisp outer coating with a soft, fluffy centre. We're using Lincolnshire Maris Piper potatoes so that really fits in well with the 'fresh and local' theme that we're trying to create.

Christmas Menu

2008-09-12T10:14:00.002+01:00

It seems a long way away at the moment, but we've already had a few people asking for our Christmas menu. It is now available on our website.

There's a choice of 4 starters, 4 mains and 4 desserts plus tea/coffee and mince pies, for £22 per person (or £17 for two courses). We'll be serving the menu to pre-booked parties from 1st to 24th December.

Cows

2008-09-01T01:59:00.004+01:00

We are very fortunate to be located directly opposite a dairy farm ... and here are some of our neighbours :-)

Ready to Fly

2008-08-29T09:50:00.001+01:00

The second brood is just a single baby swallow - looking just about fully grown and ready to leave the nest.

Help for Heroes

2008-08-22T11:33:00.006+01:00

Some regular customers of ours have recently completed a sponsored climb of Snowdon in aid of Help for Heroes - a charity that provides facilities for wounded servicemen and women. They completed the climb, despite the weather not being ideal, and have so far raised in excess of £1,500. See www.helpforheroes.org.uk for more information about this excellent charity. Go on make a donation.... you know that you want to!

Pub Painting

2008-08-21T16:18:00.002+01:00

Kathryn's Auntie Marie brought us this great pastel painting of The Willow Tree Inn as a present recently - painted from a photograph that she'd taken when visiting us earlier in the year!

Summer Swallow

2008-08-21T16:09:00.004+01:00

We've had Bateman's Summer Swallow as a guest beer twice recently and it's been one of the most popular guests we've ever had. It's a light coloured beer - and that sometimes puts off some of our traditional bitter drinkers - but not this time. It's only £2.40 per pint, 3.9% abv and you can watch the real swallows flying back and forth around their nest while you're drinking it!

p.s. there's definitely a second brood in the nest, being fed constantly by their parents. These new chicks aren't going to have long to practice flying before heading south for the Winter!

Signs

2008-08-21T15:42:00.002+01:00

The Willow Tree's current signs are a real mess. We thought that replacing them would be one of the first jobs that we tackled after moving in last November, but we are only just getting round to it 9 months later!

The main hanging sign is falling apart, creaks like crazy in the wind and is almost totally obscured by trees. Strangely, there's even a Christmas tree growing right next to it.

Viewed from the road, you can easily miss the sign altogether.

This picture (from www.barnby-in-the-willows.org.uk) shows that just a few years ago, the sign was much more visible and some of the trees weren't there at all.

We're hoping to refurbish the hanging sign using the old design, trim back the old trees and remove the inappropriate new ones - and then hopefully people will be able to recognise us as a pub!

The sign on the side of the building is also to be replaced with a new one. The existing sign is just transfers on a wooden backboard and they are starting to peel off in several places.

We'll need to give notice to the council about trimming the trees and we're still waiting to hear how long it will be before the new signs are ready, but hopefully everything should be completed before the Winter.

Perhaps more new arrivals?

2008-08-01T14:21:00.002+01:00

Whilst our three baby swallows have flown the nest, Mummy Swallow is back. She has been sitting on the nest for a week now. Could we have more babies on the way? Watch this space!

New Gates

2008-08-01T13:55:00.002+01:00

We've had some gates fitted on the car park entrance and in the patio area. Now Gibson can wander around the place without us having to watch him all the time, and our bottle/barrel store area is out of sight.

www.countrysidegates.co.uk did them for us.

That's all the major work done for now ... we've spent enough for the time being! Although we are hoping to get the pub signs sorted out in the not too distant future.

The floor is finished

2008-07-26T10:57:00.003+01:00

The floor was completed on schedule on Thursday and by Friday night it was all set up and ready for opening.

Floor day 2

2008-07-22T12:22:00.001+01:00

Now it looks like a swimming pool in the restaurant.

And now the floor ...

2008-07-21T09:50:00.003+01:00

Apart from a few minor bits and pieces, the decorating in the bar was finished by Saturday lunchtime (about 20 minutes after we'd opened!). Yesterday we cleared out the restaurant again so that work could start today on the new floor. It's a 4-day process. This morning the old carpet has been removed and all the glue that was holding it down is being scraped up.

Jane's race for Life

2008-07-21T09:47:00.002+01:00

Well done Jane for completing the Newark Race for Life last weekend!

All Smiles

2008-07-21T09:37:00.002+01:00

Lucie, Jess, Jane and Lauren demonstrate just how much they love working at The Willow Tree on a Saturday night.

More decorating

2008-07-15T09:42:00.002+01:00

Painting in the restaurant finished on Friday and we were more or less back to normal for the weekend. Yesterday painting started in the bar and will continue all week. The guys finish working at 4:30 so there's time to get the place sorted out and for the paint to dry before we open at 7.

Jess races for life ...

2008-07-13T01:42:00.003+01:00

Well done Jess (number 744) for completing the Race for Life while tied to numnber 733 , raising money for cancer research, and appearing in this week's Newark Advertiser ...

Charlotte's baby in the pub already :-)

2008-07-13T01:29:00.003+01:00

Congratulations to Charlotte & Harvey .... their baby girl Mia Louise was born on Sunday 6th July and has already been to the pub twice :-)

Mother and daughter pictured in The Willow Tree Inn this evening ....

Baby Swallows' First Flight

2008-07-10T17:14:00.001+01:00

We've had a pair of swallows nesting near the back door of the pub and their 3 offspring have been getting bigger (and more swallow-like) by the day. This morning we saw them flying for the first time - from the nest to the smoking shelter and back, then as far as next door's roof. They've still spent most of their time in the nest though, and the parents are still bringing their food.

The pair originally tried nesting in an outhouse that we use for our washing machine and dryer - which has apparently been their summer home for a few years - so we had to put up some nets to discourage them. It took them a few weeks to finally give up and find this new nesting site. In fact, the whole pub roof is occupied by various bird species at the moment, particularly sparrows and starlings. I guess that's been the case ever since the place was built in 1738 so who are we to throw them out!

Chimney Lining

2008-07-10T16:21:00.000+01:00

We weren't able to use one of the pub's log burning stoves last Winter because the chimney needed lining. We've finally got that done today and so when the long hot summer (!) is over we'll be able to get a roaring fire going in the bar without fear of setting the place alight. We now know all about 316/316 steel liners, throat plates, register plates and rain hats with bird guards :-)

One day we'll have to do something about those green chimneys.

Redecorating the interior

2008-07-10T15:42:00.001+01:00

We always wanted to update the decor in the bar and restaurant. It's not been decorated fully for something over 10 years apparently. We were seriously unsure about what colours to choose - except that we definitely wanted things to be brighter. The colours before were like you can see in the first picture.

The decorators started work this week and should soon have finished the restaurant. It's hard to imagine what it will look like once completely painted and furnished, but so far we're quite pleased ... though it's quite a bit brighter than we'd anticipated. This is what it looked like earlier today ...

Hello World

2008-07-10T15:33:00.001+01:00

It's 8 months since we moved into The Willow Tree Inn ... our first serious attempt at running our own business after years in the corporate world. After a few chaotic days in November 2007 things gradually began to settle down as we learned to handle our new jobs, new business, new home and new life. Now we're finally getting round to some of those jobs that we'd intended to do as soon as we moved in, so I thought we'd document the changes on line - hopefully keeping everyone who might be interested up to date with what we're doing.