The Hand and Cleaver, Ranton Green

[flossietoo]

I just saw that too! Slightly cheering me up on my sickbed beneath a pile of blankets, spaniels and misery. Determined to go tomorrow night. Will just sneeze as quietly as possible and hope nobody realises where the germs came from.
The lovely thing about these quiz nights has been the atmosphere. It has been like spending a laughter-filled evening in someone's home. I don't know if that could be recreated somewhere else.

 

[flossietoo]

Just back from the closing night at the Cleaver. There were so many people there that it was too hot - like I remember it always used to be when we used to drive out aimlessly through the lanes in search of the pub. We had the final quiz, oodles of food and much heckling. Then people started playing music, which will probably still be on now. We left when nobody was looking, so I didnt have to say goodbye to anyone. Very, very sad.

 

[Gramaisc]

Very, very sad.

Still some hope..?

Last night showed the strength of feeling with regards to keeping the pub open. I have been asked to contact Camra to see what they can do to help so I will be looking at this during the week. Watch this space for more information.

 

[Noah]

Always hope. Let battle commence.

 

[flossietoo]

If it has definitely been purchased by the charity a nice opening salvo might be a press release to The Sentinel urging people to think before they donate in case their money helps rip the heart out of another rural community!

 

[Noah]

Careful, not the way to starts it, gently at first.

 

[John Marwood]

Losing a pub is always sad because of the social memories

But it was marketed for a long long time at the same price as a family house in Stafford and no potential publican wanted to take it on

So it is hardly fair when eventually one organisation does buy it that it gets slagged off .


It lost money
It lost money for the bank that owned it
It lost money for the previous owners

It was for sale, no licensee or brewery wanted it

Because it would lose money, as a pub

 

[flossietoo]

All fair points John. It is just particularly unfortunate that there was a couple who were extremely keen to buy it as a pub. They were selling property to fund the purchase and couldn't meet the time deadline for offers. Maybe you are right, though. Perhaps the days are gone when a pub like that could turn a profit - although it doesn't seem that long ago that the place was packed every time we visited.

 

[John Marwood]

All fair points John. It is just particularly unfortunate that there was a couple who were extremely keen to buy it as a pub. They were selling property to fund the purchase and couldn't meet the time deadline for offers. Maybe you are right, though. Perhaps the days are gone when a pub like that could turn a profit - although it doesn't seem that long ago that the place was packed every time we visited.

As much as I liked the place it may have saved another bankrupt couple

The pub, if it was going to survive, needed a cash buyer with foreign owned football club funds to sink into the infrastructure - the heating bills were horrendous

And not a mortgaged family wondering how harsh the winter will be

 

[Gramaisc]

Calling all Ranton Fest acts from 2012. Would you be willing to support the fight for the Hand and Cleaver to stay open as a pub and offer you the chance to perform there again? Please guys, put the word out there - I can't do this on my own.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Hand-and-Cleaver/148554911060

 

[John Marwood]

 

[Gramaisc]

Folks, Mark Winnington (Councillor) has taken up the cause to get the pub reinstated. Please contact him if you are interested in helping.

Hi All,
You may have read that i would like to see the Hand and Cleaver restored to its former Glory. The Pub does appear to have been sold and much has been done to wipe clear any physical indications that is was a pub (signs removed etc!)
It is my understanding that to remove the condition that it stays a Pub requires proof that there is no Community interest. If you are interested in joining me in proving that is not the case please send me a message. Thanks Mark Winnington

More details are in yesterdays Newsletter.

 

[flossietoo]

I was just going to post that!

 

[Gramaisc]

Tardiness will not be tolerated!

 

[peggy]

its a shame councillor Winnington wasnt as vocal and didnt act as strongly when local residents and surrounding rural areas were "upset" at the development at Seighford when drive me set up. Residents were very "upset" then but didnt see him offering much of a fight for the locals. I guess losing the chance to walk up the local for a pint effects him more personally than the destruction of rural areas and the noise of racing cars effects me.

 

[Bob]

If you read it correctly he doesn't appear to be using his status as councillor - it appears whoever is in charge of the Facebook page added that bit in. So he is trying to do something as just a regular person about something that affects him as a regular person, surely you can’t object to that?



The Driveme planning issues didn’t affect him personally and I believe he handled the situation very professionally as he wasn’t in the easiest situation at the time. It isn’t the job of a councillor to get on their high horse about issues despite the number of local protestors – although if you take away those who were bullied into protesting by the obnoxious vicar who shouldn’t have been using his position to frighten old ladies and have a rant at midnight mass, there weren’t really all that many.

 

[peggy]

If you read it correctly he doesn't appear to be using his status as councillor - it appears whoever is in charge of the Facebook page added that bit in. So he is trying to do something as just a regular person about something that affects him as a regular person, surely you can’t object to that?



The Driveme planning issues didn’t affect him personally and I believe he handled the situation very professionally as he wasn’t in the easiest situation at the time. It isn’t the job of a councillor to get on their high horse about issues despite the number of local protestors – although if you take away those who were bullied into protesting by the obnoxious vicar who shouldn’t have been using his position to frighten old ladies and have a rant at midnight mass, there weren’t really all that many.

object to him feeling unhappy at the closure of the pub? not at all.
If you had read my post correctly you would have seen that I didnt mention him using his status, just mearly pointed out, that in my opinion, surely you cant object to me having one? he showed lack of strength regarding drive me.
It is the role of the councillor to represent the people of their jurisdiction is it not?
His difficult situation? is the role of councillor one that was forced upon him, like the destruction of rural areas around seighford and ranton were forced upon the residents, theres me thinking he chose this difficult task?
Bullying and obnoxious? As far as bullying tactics go, I recieved an annoymous call from a female threatening to "open up the gates" herself " (presumably she had the key?) and invite the gypsies onto the land if the protests were succesful in stopping driveme.
Not many protestors? www.expressandstar.com/.../villagers-in-protest-at-driving-site-plans/
plus 300 letters of objection - www.expressandstar.com/news/2008/.../move-to-stop-driving-centre/
not that any of that matters in the great scheme of things, as drive me is there to stay. I wish Ranton luck with the fight to keep a pub, should be the heart of the community, but if that fails perhaps a walk up to driveme, with eardefenders for light refreshments may help.

 

[Bob]

If you had read my post correctly you would have seen that I didnt mention him using his status, just mearly pointed out, that in my opinion, surely you cant object to me having one? he showed lack of strength regarding drive me.

I only put this as your post refered to him as " councillor Winnington "

object to him feeling unhappy at the closure of the pub? not at all.
just mearly pointed out, that in my opinion, surely you cant object to me having one?

Not at all, I was Just replying with mine.

It is the role of the councillor to represent the people of their jurisdiction is it not?
His difficult situation? is the role of councillor one that was forced upon him.

His role as councillor was not just there to deal with Driveme, I mearly was pointing out that this particular issue within his many roles for many years was possibly not the easiset thing he had to deal with. He was trying to represent the people from both sides of the arguement. It may asl be worth noting that many of the original Seighford protestors now own shares in the holybush and have changed their opinoins of driveme considerably.

As far as bullying tactics go, I recieved an annoymous call from a female threatening to "open up the gates" herself " (presumably she had the key?) and invite the gypsies onto the land if the protests were succesful in stopping driveme.

I have never of heard anything like this, although, I'm not saying it's not true - and I could probably guess the person who said it.

 

[Bob]

Also with regards to the number of complaint letters, I wouldn't take it too literally. I know one person alone sent in over 100 letters of complaint and another sent 30ish letters in. We could only be talking of a handful of people. I also know 20 - 30 people with in the immediate surrounding area and only one of them sent just a letter in just once.

 

[peggy]

I find it hard to imagine that the mass of demonstrations, packed meeting halls and hundreds of letters (which were well documented with photographs and reports) were all just the same handful of people.
I dont know if you heard this either, but there were certainly a number of concerned residents who were too afraid to protest as they were fearful of the impact to their tennancy as they shared the same land lord as drive me.
Like I said this is all irrelevant we have Drive me here to stay. The pub has been sold. Perhaps the councillor could ask the wealthy landlord for his support in his campaign to keep a pub in Ranton, as allegedly, it was rumoured at the time that they enjoyed socialising together.