We’re fast approching July. Fakenham Fair and the associated Pub & Club Festival are at the end of August. Won’t be long now!

I recently created a couple of websites for those two ‘happenings’ - pop along to www.fakenhamfair.co.uk and www.plubfest.co.uk to keep up to speed with what’s being planned.

If you’re a trader who’d like a stall at Fakenham Fair, you’d better book up now – I’ve been reliably informed that the number of booked stalls has already reached last year’s total. The Carnival Procession is being planned as we speak and bookings are being taken for that too. Get in quick if you’re a business or local organization who wants to be in the procession. You’ll find the appropriate entry documents for download on the site.

As for Fakenham Plubfest, we’ve had a pretty good response from the town’s ‘boozers’ – there are just two or three pubs who haven’t quite made up their minds yet, and just one social club which is yet to respond – I’d class that as a bit of a success. We have the Prize Draw all but sorted – the ticksheets are on the website to download, the venues’ ink and stamps are ready to go and some nice prizes have already been donated. Almost good to go!

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.

The Crown Hotel, Fakenham

Remember when this was a thriving pub? Remember when it was a positive focal point in the town centre?

The Crown has been closed for a long time now. It’s arguably the best recognised building in the Market Square and it’s got to be the prime location for a pub in Fakenham, yet it remains empty. The Crown continues to project an appallingly negative image on a town whose residents and representatives are fighting to improve and promote it. For an important building like this to remain closed just looks bad and if it could be reopened might start to paint a more positive picture of the town. Maybe that would in turn start to attract more and better shops – nothing breeds success like success, as they say.

What can be done?

I was talking  the other day to a Wells resident about a similar situation in his town. There’s a prominent building – now an eyesore – on the Quay which has been empty for a long time due to a fire. The community there have called on the council to investigate issuing a compulsory purchase order. It makes sense. They’ve spent shedloads of money in the area and want to promote Wells, as we want to for Fakenham, but the eyesore is a blot on the landscape which is holding them back. ‘Spoiling the ship for a ha’porth of tar’ is the old saying.

I wonder if something like that’s a possibility for The Crown? The owners don’t seem to be doing anything to actively sell the place or get new tenants in. I have a client who tells me he produced an outline business plan for joint ownership of the place as a pub/restaurant/hotel but despite contacting the owners with it he was completely ignored.

What do you think? Do you have any ideas? Please leave a comment.

Although I spread my custom round several eateries in town, this is my favourite sandwich shop in Fakenham – Fresh4You in Millers Walk. I invariably pop in at least a couple of times a week for a sarnie for my lunch or a late breakfast and a cuppa. The reason I like it? Because it’s always spotlessly clean and eye-wideningly bright. The staff are always pleasant and helpful too – once I dropped a cup of tea on the way out and it seemed as if I’d actually done them a favour, they were so dismissive of the mess I’d created!

This is ‘on the record’, folks: I would heartily recommend their bacon baguettes – they’re scrumptious. The standard ones at £2.99 have 4 rashers inside, which is complete bacon-overkill (being a wuss, I can’t cope with that so opt for a 2-slice version). Their coffee machine looks like the Starship Enterprise dashboard, but produces the perfect Americano although I’ve cut down on coffee and usually get a Fairtrade tea – a really nice cup of Rosie. Overall, 10 out of 10.  Take note, other shop owners…. this is exactly how to do it!

See you in there?

What do you reckon to this story in today’s EDP? Marston’s are a large Staffordshire-based brewery and pub company (they have over 1700 pubs across the UK). They own the Wychwood, Jennings, Banks’s, Brakspeare and Ringwood beer brands as well as high-street ‘cooking-lager’ brands  like Carlsberg, Stella Artois, Carling and Fosters.

They’re apparently looking at opening a bar & restaurant in the Clipbush Lane area, close to the proposed Health Centre complex.

Do we need it? Is an edge-of-town site good for our town?

The Hourglass (formerly known as The Horse & Groom) in Sculthorpe is set between the village street and the main A148, with lots of parking space. We’d booked a table for four at 7pm and when we arrived there were four diners already enjoying a meal – however it’s quite a big pub-restaurant and the place looked deserted!

The contemporary decor is attractively minimalist, with cream paintwork and tasteful canvases on the wall. Very clean-and-sharp-looking but not too much ‘character’ for what I assume is quite an old building. I like it though. The landlord is friendly and attentive and after a round of drinks was ordered (the Woodforde’s Wherry was in decent nick but the only other ale choice was Bombadier) we were shown to our table.

For starters we chose whitebait, vegetable risotto and blue cheese mushrooms. They didn’t take very long to arrive and were all delicious. Our main courses were rump steaks with chips & mushrooms, rump of lamb on a spinach & potato bed and pork ribs with BBQ sauce & chips. All were absolutely excellent fare – the dishes could simply not be faulted. The ribs were tender and tasty – loads of them too. One of our group remarked that it was the most tender rump steak he’d had! Can’t be bad, can it?

So… all told very good indeed. The choice of beer was a tad dull and predictable but of decent quality. The food was lovely and the surroundings and staff were great. Recommended.

It’s very pleasant inside The Oak, in Oak Street Fakenham. The staff are always helpful and friendly and even manage to put up with the banter from my mate with a cheery smile (we’ve been in there enough to be recognized now). Last night I dropped in for a meal and a pint with two pals after working late at the office – it was around 7.45 when we arrived.

The menu was in a state of flux (a new list of dishes was arriving next day) . Many dishes were ‘off’ but we managed to make a choice from what remained – my mate and I both went for a liver and onion suet pudding (I know – it sounds unusual) and his partner chose a fish dish. After being told subsequently that only one liver pudding existed, my mate chose the fish too. We didn’t have to wait long for it all to arrive, as there were only a few people in the place. I’ve never seen it choc full.

The liver & onion pudding (avec les chips ‘n’ peas) was fine, if a tad strong tasting. Maybe because it was beef liver (as we were informed). The fish dishes came served in a creamy sauce along with a single bowl of chips to share, which had been requested instead of mashed potato. Strangely no vegetables arrived to go with them, despite being included in the description we found afterwards. The desserts were fine, I was told (I didn’t have one myself) so overall the food was OK but not ideal. I’ll let them off though, due to the menu thing. Maybe next time I’ll try the Mexican Fajita Tower they were planning to introduce on the new menu. That does sound nice!

The beer: Us fellas had originally ordered a pint of Wherry, the only ale available, but when poured it was completely vinegary and undrinkable (not the first time that’s happened to me there). As the only other choice was a smoothflow-type bitter, we were offered a bottle of St. Peters each which was fine. They were the only bottled ales in the pub though!

The verdict: I quite like The Oak. The owners and staff are great and the surroundings are really nice. It’s a very pleasant place to go. However, I always leave thinking I’d really like it a lot more if they paid more attention to their beer. I think they are in a bit of a ‘Catch22′ situation as they don’t have the turnover to justify more ales – let’s face it, if the very popular Wherry doesn’t sell fast enough and goes off they’re not selling lots. I have suggested ordering smaller quantities of local brewers’ ales in the past, but maybe that didn’t prove possible. Last night I suggested that they could try ofering a wider choice of bottled beers – maybe with a local flavour or conversely a range of good Belgian beers. They need to attract more custom and a Unique Selling Point like that would provide a good reason to go there. We’ll see – I’ll no doubt be going there again soon!