The world has coped rather badly with news that the winter shutters have come down at Beeses, and frankly, we might have expected you all to have done a little better than this. Ma and Pa fully expect the banking sector to have received a swift injection of moral rectitude by the time Beeses emerges from hibernation next Easter, when your heart will be lighter and your wallet heavier.
Or it could be that in Easter you’ll still be paying for Christmas, so who knows? Well, er, no-one actually, which is probably part of the problem. But Beeses will re-open on Good Friday 10 April, and that will be reason enough to throw the blanket off your knees and help us bring in the new season.
Ssssshhhhh......It’s already been a month since we closed but it’s still a strange feeling with the place being so quiet. Still, it has to be said that chez Beeses the ZZZs are being clocked up at a rate seldom seen outside of a performance by Coldplay, as you can see. It never seems quite long enough when you’re doing very little, although trying to extend the stay by arriving at the airport just thirty minutes before departure is rather too little, and too late. With the next flight out not due for three days, a spontaneous yomp to another airport seemed on the cards until the very nice Ryanair lady (and how often do you hear THAT?) wangled us aboard. Woo hoo!
Summer 2008
We’re being asked a lot about how this summer has been for us, and it’s nice to be able to say that we had a reasonable one in spite of the weather. We had many more customers visiting Beeses this year, and it was nice to see a healthy chunk of those coming again and again. Especially gratifying was that we were far busier than last year on days when the weather wasn’t so great (that’ll be quite a few days then...). We want to create a special atmosphere at Beeses, and our customers are an important part of that. So we were encouraged that many people think we are getting there, and thanks to everyone for bringing something to that.
We were really pleased with the events we ran this year, with music playing a large part in most of them (open mic nights and live bands), Professor Beese’s quiz attracting several regular teams, and Captain Barnacle’s first visit. We’ll be doing all of this again and more next year, and we’ll let you know what’s afoot in future newsletters.
BeerFest08Oh, and we had another beer festival! With more ales, more ciders and more music than last year, our third festival was bigger and better in every way. A rainy Friday turned into a glorious Saturday, and the sun beat down all day. It clearly had the required effect on your thirsts, as we were absolutely overrun. We think we did a reasonable job of keeping most people happy, so we are sorry if you had to wait a while at our busiest times. But we’d served 350 meals by the end of the day (Pa lost count of the number of pints sold after he’d had to take his socks off...), and we’re very proud of our staff for having worked so hard.
Last year we proved to have been somewhat conservative in the volume of ale and cider we obtained, and having been virtually cleared out on the Saturday, Ma and Pa each had to embark upon a beer run. No such problems this year - it was with admirably restrained smugness that Pa was heard on Sunday to suggest that if he’d been allowed to indulge in his fantasy beer order last year, things might have been different. With Ma nursing a hangover the size of Brislington, Pa took the ensuing silence as endorsement of this view.
However, none of it would have been possible without the huge amount of work put in by our staff, and also our friends. Coming from as far afield as France, Devon, Hampshire and, er, Broomhill, Ma and Pa would like to say a big thanks to Maurice, Stella, Ben, Carol, Andrina, Charisse, Matt, Elmo, Mike, Mandy, Andy, Jo, JJ and Carol. Most of them gave up much of their weekend to help us out, and we couldn’t have done it without you all.
Riverside Rockers Gain Garden Gong
Talking of the freeloading parasites that constitute the staff around here, there’s one person often talked about at Beeses, but rarely seen. However, she was recently spotted out in public on the occasion of the Bristol in Bloom awards. Clare was there with Ma to collect her thoroughly deserved Gold Award for the Restaurant section, and there was another Mayor there to add to Ma’s collection, so everybody got something. Well, almost - we couldn’t let the triumph of the evening finish without a side order of fiasco, as it transpired that the prize had somehow been mislaid. Things looked like turning ugly until a wallet was prised open and a suitable honorarium offered - no need for Mad Dog Ma tonight...
More bloody staff newsWe know from your comments that you can see how hard our young staff work every week, and so Ma organised a trip to Thorpe Park. The slush fund was supplemented by your staff tips, and free tickets to the park were donated by the dashing James Nicholson, who seems to have friends in low places. The weather wasn’t so kind to us this time, and we had just managed to dry out when mass hysteria ensued and we headed for the log flume...so we dried off with yet another go on Stealth, by common consent the ride of the day (was that sufficient product placement for you? We’re also a location in the next James Bond film...).
But even such a grand day out wasn’t without a sting in the tail, as it was the last staff trip for some. When the season started in March, we knew we were fortunate to have 90% of the staff from last year return to help us out again. It gave us some solid foundations to help build trade so well this year, so we are very sorry to be saying goodbye to Thomas and Bartek.
If you’ve eaten anything at Beeses over the last two years, it was
probably prepared by Thomas. This year he took over the kitchen and
made it his own, and he played a significant part in making things better
at Beeses.As did Bartek, who worked in the kitchen with Thomas last year, and moved into the bar for 2008. He was genuinely pleased to see returning customers, and had a smile for everyone even when working incredibly long hours. Bartek introduced the Polish Apple Pie to Beeses, a sauce (geddit?) of constant amusement for staff when customers asked about desserts. Oh well, it takes all sorts.
Next year
So that was it for 2008. We can't promise any radical changes again for next year - hey, two major construction projects in three years isn’t shabby, so you’ll have to wait a while before we put the bar on stilts and stay open during the winter.
Here's hoping things are better on the other side of winter.