Pub turns post office (From Swindon Advertiser)
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Pub turns post office
8:20am Monday 27th August 2012 in News
Bill Downes
BILL Downes’ twice-weekly role as a postmaster is only the latest unusual chapter in an unusual life. In his time, he’s been a choral scholar, a sailor, a tester of pubs, an author and the proprietor of a Spanish fish and chip shop. Before he was invited by Arkells to take over the Rose and Crown last year, many locals feared for the future of the Elizabethan inn, but he’s set about making it viable, with a chef brought in from London and a Greek taverna due to open shortly. “Too many English pubs of this ilk are closing,” he said. “I can’t understand why.
“Queen Elizabeth the First ordered that there would be free house pubs on every major coaching route so people could feed themselves and get a place to stay. “This is one of them. It’s beautiful. “So I have taken it on. It’s been a year and a bit and we’ve just managed to get the place to break even. It’s been very tough. “The post office in the village closed down – the guy said he wasn’t doing enough business.
“The nearest post office is three miles away and there are a lot of older people living in this village, so we asked would the post office like to come here twice per week to open up. They come on Tuesdays and Fridays. We’re a sub-post office on those days. It’s really good for the village.” Bill was born in 1951 in Bristol, one of four brothers. His parents were Bill and Monica. “My father was a master butcher,” he said.
“He was the man who supplied all the Berni Inns stock when they first opened in Bristol. My mother owned the Model Kennels in Pill, just outside Bristol, the largest dog kennels and cattery in Europe.
“She was a Crufts judge and used to breed Dachshunds and Afghan hounds.” A talented singer even as an infant, Bill was a Wells Cathedral chorister at six, and remained until he was 15.
His experiences included making a Christmas record with the Vienna Boys’ Choir some time in the early 1960s as part of a television programme. These days he confines his singing to karaoke. At 15, Bill joined the Royal Navy, serving initially at the HMS Ganges onshore training establishment and later in hydrographical surveying.
He wrote about his service in a self-published fictionalised memoir called Mast of Fear (ISBN 9781453844663), which is available from Amazon’s American site. “I was 27 when I left,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about civvy street at all. They sent me on this resettlement course in London.
“In the classroom on the blackboard there were about 20 different professions. The idea was that you picked one and then went for three weeks with these people, and if you liked it you got a job. “I was there and the first thing I saw was ‘brewery representative with Youngs of Wandsworth’. I thought, ‘That will do me’.”
It turned out there were no jobs with Youngs at the time, but a mentor liked him enough to help him land a post with Whitbread in Stroud as a trade representative for Bath and Avon.
In 1978 he found himself being paid £12,000 a year, plus £100 a week in expenses, to tour pubs in a company Vauxhall Carlton. He eventually took on his own pub, the Roaring Forties in Weston, later moving to Marlborough to take on the Sun Inn and then The Bear. In 2000 he and Sandra moved to Spain, where they opened a thriving fish and chip shop in Puerto de la Duquesa on the Costa del Sol.
“I was chairman of the Royal Society of St George,” Bill said. “It was a society for expats in Spain.” The couple were awarded the freedom of their adopted town, Manilva, when they left last year.
Their move was prompted by the disastrous collapse of the Spanish financial sector, which cost them dearly.
Fortunately Bill’s success at The Bear had not been forgotten by Arkells and they offered him the Rose and Crown. “I average about 120 hours per week,” he said. ”The reality is that to be a good landlord, you have to be there all the time. “You have to understand all sections of society and know what you are doing. You have to be tolerant. “Show me a grumpy landlord and I’ll show you an empty pub.”
Comments(33)
semitonic
says...
12:15pm Mon 27 Aug 12
And I can't believe you are still keeping up this pretence - it's almost as ridiculous as the Daniel10 debacle or the Gordon Chalmers pantomime. On the subject of which, you haven't had a colossal row with messy for several days, surely this is as good a subject as any to try to prove each other wrong?
RichardR1
says...
12:50pm Mon 27 Aug 12
Please explain how your original post is on topic, rather than just an excuse to attack another, late, poster.
As for Gordon Chalmers, was he not a sock puppet of Itsamess.
As for the article, good luck to the guy to diversify. Isn't that what the other licensee did, which upset those who felt they were indispensable, and were shown not to be.
Fox in Exile
says...
3:13pm Mon 27 Aug 12
Fox in Exile
says...
3:13pm Mon 27 Aug 12
Davey Gravey
says...
3:41pm Mon 27 Aug 12
RichardR1 wrote:Lol. Refering to yourself as he. You fool nobody
I take it you are one of the trolls he has spoken of many times who have nothing better to do than spy on the pub in question. Very strange hobby. I think you need to get a life.
RichardR1
says...
5:16pm Mon 27 Aug 12
semitonic
says...
5:23pm Mon 27 Aug 12
Your'e the biggest trouble-making troll on these forums. Now, don't you have customers to serve?.... oh probably not.
Davey Gravey
says...
5:34pm Mon 27 Aug 12
RichardR1 wrote:Clearly it doesn't fool me at all. I don't care that you post on here like others do, but don't treat people like idiots when your identity is obvious
Davey Gravey clearly it fools you, you seem to believe every new poster is Robfm.
Empty Car Park
says...
10:51pm Mon 27 Aug 12
Very wise words.
Too bad not all lanlords can heed this advice
RichardR1
says...
8:25am Tue 28 Aug 12
Having observed in many pubs the rudeness of some customers I am surprised more don't get banned.
I would suspect the Trolls and Sock Puppets on here would be such customer types. The ones who could run the pub better, but when asked why don't they try, have also sought's of excuses.
itsamess3
says...
8:36am Tue 28 Aug 12
RichardR1--a new poster--with infinite knowledge of everything that has happened on this site for several years and personal knowledge of our well known barman.
Wherever this pub is it is likely to succeed with the introduction of a Greek Taverna.
itsamess3
says...
9:07am Tue 28 Aug 12
RichardR1
says...
9:31am Tue 28 Aug 12
It has featured on these pages on a number of occasions, with articles about Arkells, does that give you a clue? It's in Ashbury.
New poster maybe Mr Itsamess3 as opposed to Itsamess, and 1&2, he who lives in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, even though way off target.
itsamess3
says...
9:41am Tue 28 Aug 12
As there are 2 pubs listed for this area it was a correct enquiry.
1 2 Could B
says...
10:01am Tue 28 Aug 12
8:25am Tue 28 Aug 12
Empty Car Park, I know of a pub called the Shoe in Hampshire where locals and visitors alike went to be insulted by the 'grumpy landlord'. It was always packed.
People do not go out in search of being insulted by a grumpy landlord.
Clearly you are Robfm, posting under a pseudonym because The Adver finally had the sense to ban you.
It matters not that you insult everyone's intelligence by denying this fact.
We all know it pains you that you can't "promote" yourself under your own name.
Kindly grow up. Thankyou
RichardR1
says...
10:18am Tue 28 Aug 12
Nothing to promote old chap.
Mr Itsamess, there is a photograph, no mistaking which pub. You claim to know everything going on in Swindon so how come you haven't caught up with all the latest comings and goings.
Davey Gravey
says...
10:55am Tue 28 Aug 12
Phantom Poster
says...
11:58am Tue 28 Aug 12
itsamess3 wrote:Oh do stop banging on about internet regulations - time and time again on here you have shown that you don't understand the first thing about them.
Deadly accurate--perhaps the adver would like to contact your ISP-new regulations give them that option-then perhaps sensible discussions could take place. As there are 2 pubs listed for this area it was a correct enquiry.
RichardR1
says...
12:02pm Tue 28 Aug 12
1 2 Could B
says...
12:53pm Tue 28 Aug 12
RichardR1 wrote:So that you can then dial 1471 to find his personal details.
Here's a suggestion Davey Gravey, why note ring Robfm and ask him after all you all seem to know the pub intimately, surely not to difficult to find the number, I'm sure 118118 can help.
You truly are a loathsome undividual.
Please just grow up
Davey Gravey
says...
4:25pm Tue 28 Aug 12
RichardR1 wrote:I know nothing of your pub,other than where it is.
Here's a suggestion Davey Gravey, why note ring Robfm and ask him after all you all seem to know the pub intimately, surely not to difficult to find the number, I'm sure 118118 can help.
itsamess3
says...
7:23pm Tue 28 Aug 12
Always the dramatist--rarely correct--do read both the terms and conditions of the site and the privacy terms--you may learn something--doubt it.
Bob--yes born and bred in swindon and proud of it--yes i do keep my eye on what goes on in swindon--but Ashbury is not in swindon nor the borough--its in Berkshire--but apparently there is a Rose and Crown in Highworth.
Much the same as you were unaware there was a Carpenters Arms in Gorsehill years ago.
Always Grumpy
says...
8:34pm Tue 28 Aug 12
itsamess3 wrote:Actually, I think you'll find Ashbury is in Oxfordshire.
P.P.
Always the dramatist--rarely correct--do read both the terms and conditions of the site and the privacy terms--you may learn something--doubt it.
Bob--yes born and bred in swindon and proud of it--yes i do keep my eye on what goes on in swindon--but Ashbury is not in swindon nor the borough--its in Berkshire--but apparently there is a Rose and Crown in Highworth.
Much the same as you were unaware there was a Carpenters Arms in Gorsehill years ago.
1 2 Could B
says...
9:18pm Tue 28 Aug 12
Phantom Poster
says...
9:49pm Tue 28 Aug 12
itsamess3 wrote:To quote what you said to Bob:
P.P.
Always the dramatist--rarely correct--do read both the terms and conditions of the site and the privacy terms--you may learn something--doubt it.
Bob--yes born and bred in swindon and proud of it--yes i do keep my eye on what goes on in swindon--but Ashbury is not in swindon nor the borough--its in Berkshire--but apparently there is a Rose and Crown in Highworth.
Much the same as you were unaware there was a Carpenters Arms in Gorsehill years ago.
"perhaps the adver would like to contact your ISP-new regulations give them that option"
So what relevance does that have to this sites terms and conditions? Why do you always find it impossible to directly address the words which you have ACTUALLY TYPED?
Please enlighten us all as to what new legislation allows an ISP to give their customer details to any random business which requests them, in direct violation of the data protection act? Or do you think that the Adver are going to manage to get a court order because one anonymous user is annoyed about what another anonymous user has said about them! My god, why don't you and Bob just get a room together!
I'm really not as good a dramatist as you - why I remember that thrilling story of you having installed secret cameras with motion sensors outside Bob's pub!
itsamess3
says...
11:50pm Tue 28 Aug 12
3 High st Ashbury Berkshire--according to Arkells website.
P.P- not very good at understanding-but as you revealed recently--you were not educated in this country.
If you cannot read the TxCs and privacy rules do get someone to explain them to you.
Do grow up and try to enjoy the site-its all about a pub in Ashbury which will feature a Greek Taverna--or do you also not know what that is?
Always Grumpy
says...
6:57am Wed 29 Aug 12
itsamess3 wrote:Arkells are wrong then. Ashbury used to be in Berkshire many years ago (pre 1974 boundary changes?), as was Faringdon.
A.G.
3 High st Ashbury Berkshire--according to Arkells website.
P.P- not very good at understanding-but as you revealed recently--you were not educated in this country.
If you cannot read the TxCs and privacy rules do get someone to explain them to you.
Do grow up and try to enjoy the site-its all about a pub in Ashbury which will feature a Greek Taverna--or do you also not know what that is?
itsamess3
says...
7:15am Wed 29 Aug 12
Yes it does appear Arkells do not appear to know where there pubs are.
You are correct--it was changed in 1974 as you stated--it is now in Oxon.
RichardR1
says...
8:05am Wed 29 Aug 12
Mr Itsamess has told you the new rules on users being identified, and we know he is always right.
Phantom Poster
says...
9:09am Wed 29 Aug 12
itsamess3 wrote:Tut, tut, you appear to have made a racially motivated slur - have you checked the terms and conditions for that?
A.G. 3 High st Ashbury Berkshire--according to Arkells website. P.P- not very good at understanding-but as you revealed recently--you were not educated in this country. If you cannot read the TxCs and privacy rules do get someone to explain them to you. Do grow up and try to enjoy the site-its all about a pub in Ashbury which will feature a Greek Taverna--or do you also not know what that is?
In an unrelated post I deliberately said that I didn't go to school in England. I just KNEW that if I phrased it that way then further down the line it would catch you out!
I do find it surprising that a person who CLAIMS to travel as much as you doesn't realise that the British isles consists of more than just England. Indeed there are also many other countries with English as the native tongue.
You do show a persistent lack of comprehension skills when it comes to the written word. As a CLAIMED scientist wouldn't this be an impediment in your job?
itsamess3
says...
8:01pm Wed 29 Aug 12
Please do not make me laugh--racially motivated slur? You really do have a serious problem and grasping at straws.
None of your diatribe has any bearing on the article--perhaps you could join the discussion instead of your feeble attempts at personal abuse.
But of course it seems you have insufficient intelligence to comment on local issues as you are wracked with jealousy as to others achievements.
Do read the articles and let us all see if you actually know anything.
Empty Car Park
says...
8:58pm Thu 30 Aug 12
RichardR1 wrote:Ooh look!
semitonic, I hope you have evidence to back up what appears to be a serious libel.
Mr Itsamess has told you the new rules on users being identified, and we know he is always right.
Robfm is back AGAIN
Claiming libel AGAIN.
Pretending to be a victim AGAIN
Pretending to be an expert on law AGAIN
Not to worry though. I expect he'll soon be barred AGAIN
RichardR1 says...
10:17am Mon 27 Aug 12
Very strange hobby. I think you need to get a life.