The Running Horse – Fakenham. 

The Morning Advertiser, a pub trade news website, is running this story about the recent spate of ‘new build’ pubs Marstons are opening. The article states that Fakenham’s Running Horse is one of those already open, which I don’t think is actually true, but the pub will be trading soon enough.

The new pub, near the football ground and therefore set to become ‘my local’, will probably be hoping to take custom from Fakenham’s Hungry Horse - a similar kind of pub in that it sells cheapish mass-market food to families (possibly one difference is the Marstons pub will sell cask ale where the Henry IV didn’t the last time I looked). I guess Marstons’ long-term plan takes into account the fact that the town’s population will be increasing due to the number of new houses which will be built over the next few years. However, I’m also guessing that they’ll need to work hard to attract custom at the start – Fakenham’s pubs already struggle to attract people, especially early in the week. One more pub in the town means that punters will be spread even more thinly than they are at the moment.

If you go down to the town centre today, don’t be surprised if you bump into Darth Vader and Sponge Bob Square Pants!  Mark Baldwin and Heidi Pointer, who work at TEG Fisher, will be all dressed up collecting donations for Red Nose Day. If you spot them, please give generously. Nice one, you two!

Staff at the Henry IV (The Hungry Horse) in Greenway Lane are doing a 50 mile sponsored tandem bike ride dressed as Batman and Robin. They’re starting at the Greene King headquarters in Bury St. Edmunds and will hopefully arrive at the pub in plenty of time for tonoght’s karaoke (with a superhero theme) which starts at 9pm. Well done to Bill Vasey and Joseph Bane-Young – have a good trip and a great night tonight!

I am so inspired by the way Visa is running the Olympic ticket sales scheme, I may adopt their sales policy for my own business this month. After all, we all trust Visa – they’re a large ‘household name’ corporation in a financial industry which is well regulated. They have the endorsement of the UK Olympics committee and the UK government in that they have been granted the right to be associated with the games by their sponsorship. Their sales methods must therefore be spotless. I can’t go wrong, can I?

So, this is how all my new clients will go about ordering a new website this month, in line with Visa’s UK Olympic ticket policy…

1. Indicate the kind of website(s) you would like. There will be a choice of single page, medium size or “like Amazon’s”
2. Choose where you want the site to be hosted. Options will be “on a server in a UK datacentre”  or “on a random person’s home PC somewhere in a former Baltic state”
3. State your first, second and third etc. choice of website subject. Examples are, “Plumber’s website”, “Solicitor’s site” or “Genealogy for Beginners”.
4. Provide your Visa card details (NB. other cards not allowed)
5. Wait until May 2011
6. Have an unknown sum of  money deducted from your account according to the final cost of the website you have been allocated.
7. Wait until the end of June 2011
8. Be told what kind of website you’ve been allocated and how much you ended up paying.
9. Wait until summer 2012
10. Get what you paid for a year ago (but not neccesarily what you originally wanted)

Think it’ll work?

Chris Taylor, originally from Kings Lynn came to Fakenham in the Late 1970′s to work for Frost and Matthews. He then set about forming his own company and in September 1982, Colin Hughes, an accountant, joined him and Taylor Print was formed.

The company has always been busy and successful as a small jobbing printers on the industrial estate, forging the old method of printing (letterpress) with the more modern Lithographic method. Work they have done over the years includes letterheads for Norwich City football club and stationary for nearly all the main businesses in the town from the last 20 years.

With the advent of digital printing becoming affordable and access able to the average home owner, Taylor print had to make the decision whether to ’go digital’ or retire while on top of their game and they have gone for the latter.

The town will miss them greatly and we wish them happiness in their retirement.

Fakenham has a great tradition in the print industry and it’s sad to see one of the remaining print businesses close. However, others remain to successfully uphold those traditions and long may they thrive.

Thanks go to Mark Baldwin who interviewed the owners, wrote this piece and provided the photographs.