Hello all,

We know it’s only November but are we allowed to get a little bit festive yet???

We had bonfire night and what a great event that was for the whole village. Your support for the event, the fundraising and the pub was nothing short of tremendous so thank you to all who came. We’ve been busy taking bookings for your parties and planning our Christmas Fair, so we are starting to feel very festive already, despite Darren’s’ occasional grumbles of submission.

So, what’s happening……….

December 2021 – Dates for Christmas parties are booking up so please contact us to secure a date for your Christmas get together. We have a Christmas Fayre menu running from 1st-24th December for groups of 6 or more plus we are running our normal menu too.

Saturday 11th December – Christmas Fair Our Christmas Fair is coming together nicely but it’s not too late to join in if you want to. We have 12 stalls at the time of writing so there’s room to squeeze in a couple more. We will have some truly unique gifts for you to buy, all from local small businesses plus some hot food, mulled beverages and hot chocolate with a kick so please come along and enjoy some festive fun. The fair will be open 12-5 and the pub 12-11.

Sunday 12th December 5pm – Christmas Meat raffle
First prize is £100 worth of Duttons meat plus many more prizes. Any profits from this will go towards the completion of the Pavilion so it’s a win win for all of us. You can purchase your raffle tickets at the pub.

Christmas Eve – Our favourite night of the calendar!!!! Even though we don’t yet have a vicar to join us this year we will still have some representation from The Church and will be having our wonderful Christmas Carol sing along as usual. If you are planning on dining that night too, please ensure that you book in advance as it is a very popular evening.

Christmas Day – We will be open for drinks only from 11:30am to 2:30pm

New Years Eve – We have an amazing menu for you this year so why not book in for dinner then we will turn the music up and party till it’s time to welcome in the New Year. Let’s kick this Covid year into touch with a bit of class shall we

Take away We continue to offer this service that became so popular over lockdown.

Festive Opening Hours
Christmas Eve 12pm-11pm
Christmas Day 11:30am-2:30pm
Boxing Day Closed
Monday 27th Closed
Tuesday 28th 4pm-9pm
29th and 30th 4pm-10pm
New Years Eve 12pm till late
New Years Day 1pm-9pm

Sunday 2nd 12pm- 8pm
Mon 3rd to 6th Closed
Friday 7th 4pm-11pm

January 2022 Opening Hours
Monday Closed
Tuesday 4pm-9pm
Wednesday & Thursday 4pm-10pm
Friday and Saturday 4pm-11pm
Sunday 12pm-8pm

It is wonderful to hear that so many of you have already had your vaccine and it really is beginning to feel like there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

We are remarkably busy behind the scenes getting ready for reopening and we are reinvesting into the business to make it even better for you. We have made amazing improvements in the kitchen and with the assistance of a bounce back grant, (which we were lucky to find out about from a friend of the pub), we have bought 2 new swanky ovens which were much needed. Watch this space and get your taste buds ready for some amazing food coming out of our kitchen.

In addition, we are fully refurbishing our other two guest rooms (2 were done in the last lock down), hopefully in readiness for a busy summer of staycations. Bookings are already starting to build for the summer so if you are planning to book for relatives then please let us know as soon as you can. Don’t forget that village folk get a 10% discount for room bookings. Rooms can be booked from 12^th April 2021 on a room only/self-catering basis and we can offer full B&B from 17^th May 2021.

We have more plans afoot for improving the bar area and adding extra seating as well as sprucing up the outside area, adding to the work started last summer. If you haven’t guessed already, we are starting to get a little excited!!!

Take away has become very popular so we will continue to offer the service, even when we have reopened fully.

 We will have some specials for St Patricks Day so keep a look out on social media and we are offering a special Mother’s Day Menu (please click here to view) which will run on a pre order only basis that must be in by Wednesday 10^th March 2021 at the latest please. Collections will be available 12-6pm on that Day, so don’t forget to book your slot to be sure to get the time that you want.

Pub Shop

The time has come to say farewell to the pub shop. It has served its purpose for us all. We know that to some of you has been a lifeline, certainly during the uncertain times of the first lockdown. You in turn have been a lifeline to us and although the shop income has been limited it has allowed us to keep going through these stressful times and stay in good enough shape to be able to weather the storm. I am fully aware that some of you have only used the shop purely to show your support to us and through your desire to keep a pub in the village. To you all, we are so grateful, your kindness has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. The generosity to others that we have seen during this pandemic has warmed our hearts and kept us going through some dark days. We have seen the best that Barrow has to offer and learned much about those who truly value the wonderful community that we have here. We are so incredibly lucky that our landlord is a member of the community and has been very understanding during the pandemic, giving us a great deal of support for which we are forever grateful. Sadly, not all Landlords in this industry have offered their tenants the same understanding and we will see many businesses fall over the coming months with thousands of jobs lost. Thankfully, we are one of the lucky ones.

What Next

We aim to close the pub shop at the end of March; however, we would really love to continue to support those who have supported us, not just you but also our local suppliers who have all had to diversify to survive and have had to work incredibly hard to do so. With that in mind, we have decided to continue with an order and delivery/collection service for those who have loved buying local produce.  We will take weekly/monthly order for Meat, Veg, Cheese, baking products and eggs and of course booze (we are a pub after all) which will all be ready for collection or delivery every Friday in time for the weekend. Collection/ delivery times can be arranged with you directly.

We really do hope that you will make use of this service, the extra sales will still be a huge help to us and our suppliers during the long recovery ahead. For more detailed information please contact us directly for an order form.

Anyone who is taking part in the Loyalty Scheme can continue to do so if you wish but if you would prefer to now cancel your direct debit we completely understand and thank you for your show of support when things were looking pretty grim.

Pub Opening

We are excited to tell you that we will be opening outdoors initially on Monday 12^th April 2021 at 12pm. There are no mad rules involving scotch eggs however we can still only operate a table service system with rule of 6 and you will not be able to order at the bar. This first week we will be opening earlier and hosting a series of BBQ’s starting on Monday so let’s keep our fingers crossed for good weather.

All social distancing and hygiene rules must still be adhered to and wearing of masks when not seated because none of us want another lockdown and we are all responsible as individuals to look after each other.

 From May 17^th you will be able to sit indoors in our newly refurbished tap room and providing the numbers are still low we will be able to operate without any restrictions in place from June 21^st.

Our hours of business will be different initially so please call us or check your social media for updates.

Jobs

We are now well and truly in planning mode for strengthening the future of our village local and that needs good people who share our vision and who want to give our customers the absolute best experience when they visit us. With that in mind we have several vacancies that will be set to start April/May when Boris lets us out to play again. If you have hospitality experience and think that you would be a good fit, then please send an email to whitehorsebarrow@hotmail.com telling us a little bit about yourself and what you are looking for. We are looking for people in front of house, kitchen, and housekeeping. We pay above minimum wage and offer a pension scheme and paid holidays plus you benefit from a staff discount scheme.

Well, another month has gone by and thank you once more for your continued support, it’s been lovely to see you all back again.

Please do continue to use the pub shop, we have got lots of new things for you to see and some great gift ideas for a lock down Valentines Day. We can’t do this without you and will only stay open as long as you use us.

Judging from the News it could well be well into the spring before we can even consider looking at slowly reopening so with that in mind we have a few things planned for you to bring the pub to home.

Dates for your diary are:

Saturday 13^th February – Valentines Date Night. We are offering a three-course menu for two, all ready for you to enjoy at home. This will be on a pre order basis with a minimum of 72 hours notice. Collection will be by appointment between 5pm to 8pm so please book your time slot early to secure the time that suits you.

Sunday 14^th March – Mothers Day Lunch. Whether you can be with your Mum or not in these difficult times, we’re sure she would love to receive a lunch that was cooked for her and given with love from you guys so again, book your time slot between 12-6pm and we will do the rest….Mum’s as we do every year get a free treat on us.

Our current opening hours are below but watch this space as rules and circumstances are changing on a regular basis.

Stay safe everyone and don’t forget if you’re having to isolate, we can get shopping to you.

Well, here we are again and just about to come out of lock down into the festive period. It’s been a tough few weeks for many of us with lots of small businesses losing their livelihoods and families losing their loved ones; so I would like to take a moment to tell you all how grateful we have been for your ongoing support and your kind words in these very difficult time when we know that some of you are also going through tough times too. It looks like there could be light at the end of the tunnel now with positive news on vaccines so let us hope that they will be found to be safe and rolled out as soon as possible.

 We know that Christmas is going to be strange for many of us this year, us included. We normally have at least 15 at our family table and that’s after we’ve seen all of you guys. It really is going to feel ever so quiet this year.

We will reopen the pub on Wednesday 2^nd December into tier two restrictions. That means that you can only visit the pub if you are eating with us. The shop and take away will operate as normal.

We will be running 2 menu’s at the pub:

1. Our Christmas Fayre menu served in the restaurant area– A wonderful menu of new dishes for your enjoyment with some lovely new wines and cocktails to accompany them.
2. Our firepit/take away and bar menu – Whether you take out, eat in our bar or sit outside, our food will be served in take away boxes at take away prices.

Our Christmas Fayre menu can be found on our web site at www.whitehorsebarrow.co.uk and also greatbarrow.com, Facebook, twitter and  Instagram as well as inside the pub and on our outside notice board.

Now this is the important bit: If you would like to eat with us in December, and we really really hope that you will; we are working on a strictly bookings only and it must be at least 48 hours in advance. The reason for this is simple; we need to plan!!! We need to know how many staff are needed and we need to know how much food to order. If we don’t have any bookings the restaurant will not be open. We as a business need to manage our overheads ridiculously carefully and I cannot employ staff to stand here in the hope that we will get some customers walk through the door. It will be an enormous help to us if you could have a think about when you would like to visit and book a table with us as soon as possible. You can only book a table for your own household plus your support bubble if you have one, however if you would like to see friends you can always book your tables at the same time to ensure that you are on the next table. It’s a compromise but it keeps you safe whilst still being able to have that all important contact with the important people in our lives.

As far as Christmas Day and New Years Eve goes, the last day for booking  will be Thursday 17^th December.

SHOP

 The shop has already started taking Christmas orders for meat, veg, cheese and eggs from our local suppliers so if you would like to make an order for really great quality local produce whilst supporting not one but 5 small businesses we have attached an order form for your convenience. We are asking that you have it back to us asap, especially for turkeys, but  1 week before Christmas eve at the latest please. We can have it ready for collection as late as Christmas eve or on a day of your choosing.

There are some lovely gift ideas at the shop too so please take a look next time you’re in.

Well, another month living with Covid and thank you once again for all your wonderful support throughout September. Business is becoming  tough, but our wooden outside gazebo has proven to be a winner and now has a large patio heater and fire pit to keep you warm in this colder weather…… so wrap up warm, bring yourself a blanket for your knees, maybe even a pack of cards and you’ll be toasty warm outside shooting the breeze and enjoying a little bit of normal.

We have made a few changes to our menu and launched our new take away menu which you can find on www.whitehorsebarrow.co.uk, www.greatbarrow.com, facebook, twitter and  Instagram as well as inside the pub and on our outside notice board. We will also be offering regular specials mostly playing to Kelvin’s strengths and his experience with seafood.

Don’t forget we also have our 5 pint carry out containers…..You pay for four and we’ll give you the fifth on us.

We are working on lots of ideas, including our very own App, to help us through the winter months and if you have any ideas, we would very much welcome them as without you, we can’t do any of this.

As most of you will now be aware, we have been moved into tier two which means a couple more changes to how we can do things. We thought some key points might be helpful to remind you.

1. Table service only and 10pm curfew remains.
2. Only people from the same household can now sit together “indoors,“except for people who are in your bubble. The government guidance on a bubble is:
   • If you are the only adult in your household, you can bubble with one other household of any size.
   • If you are in a household with more than one adult, you can bubble with one other household containing just one adult.
   • Once you have formed your bubble you must not change to another household.
3. You can still visit the pub with friends and sit outside providing you follow the rule of 6.
4. You can still pop in for just drinks.
5. If you have chosen to download the NHS app you can now log in using that via the QR code that we have displayed around the pub.

This is ever changing so please don’t shoot the messenger, believe me, we hate it too!!!!!!

SHOP

Many of you have been asking about the future of the pub shop so I will update you as much as possible. Currently the shop will remain, although in a reduced capacity based on your reduced usage and demand. I am currently looking into its future and how I see that looking and am in discussion with various local suppliers about that. We will continue to have a shop, but the range of products has not yet been decided. The pub shop has developed a loyal following which is wonderful but to maintain a full-time shop facility it needs commitment from a much larger percentage of the village community. If we want these lovely facilities in our village, we really must commit to using them consistently and on a regular basis.

With that in mind,  I am going to be working with new the shop committee to try to develop a viable community shop for the village which I believe is so very important for the community and especially the elderly and vulnerable amongst us. More of this to come as things develop.

Our hours have had to change again so please take a moment to check below. Stay safe everyone and thanks for taking the time to read.

Shop opening hours remain 9-12 in the morning and pub hours in the evening as below:

Monday pub closed (shop still open AM)

Tuesday 4-9pm (kitchen 5-8.30)

Wednesday 4-10pm (kitchen 5-8.30)

Thursday 4-10pm (kitchen 5-8.30)

Friday 4-10pm (kitchen 58.30)

Saturday 12-10pm (kitchen 5-8.30)

Sunday 12-8pm (kitchen 12-6)

Well, where did that month go. Thank you once again for all your wonderful support throughout August. We’ve had some testing times and gazebo gate drove us crackers but thanks to your support and a lot of hard work on Darren’s part, we now have a wooden structure in the back garden which will hopefully hold up much better under the elements and keep you all warm and dry as the months get colder.

Our lovely new team have settled in now and are receiving high praise for their welcome smiles and great customer service which is lovely to see. Some of them are leaving us to go back to Uni and school but I’m sure you’ll see them again during busy holiday times.

Many of you took advantage of the new government Eat Out To Help Out scheme during August and it was a great success although it did have a slight impact on our weekend trade. We have decided to run the scheme again during October every Wednesday and offer the same deal except this time it’s on us and not Rishi. Remember to book your table in advance as we expect this to be very popular. Here’s a brief reminder of what to expect.

• Get a 50% discount on food or non-alcoholic drinks to eat or drink in (up to a maximum of £10 discount per diner)
• Use every Wednesday between 7th and 28^th October as many times as you like.
• You do not need a voucher to use this scheme and you can use it at the same time as other offers and discounts.
• There is no minimum spend.
• You cannot claim discount on alcoholic drinks or service charges.

LOYALTY SCHEME

The scheme is now fully operational and after some initial teething problems is running smoothly.

In brief, you can set up a standing order to us from as little as £20 per month which you can spend at any time during that month at the shop, pub and take away. As a little reward for showing your support you will be automatically be added to our loyalty scheme which collects points and allows you to buy a little something extra every month. It’s not a lot but it’s our little show of gratitude for your continued support. This is still a trial scheme to determine whether we, as a community can/want to sustain a shop, pub and take away so please email whitehorsebarrow@hotmail.com for further details if you would like to be involved.

We think it’s worth repeating this month…..We are still having to work to guidelines to keep us all safe so it’s worth just mentioning a few things to remind you.

We strongly advise that you make a booking before arrival. This helps us to regulate our staff levels and kitchen orders to ensure that we are working as efficiently as possible and most importantly, so we don’t have to turn you away.

We are now allowing customers to order drinks at the bar; however we are still working on the principal of one in one out. On busy days please expect to wait a little longer. Just because there’s nobody else at the bar, it doesn’t mean that the bar staff aren’t making drinks for other tables. You’re still in a queue!!

We have sanitiser stations at our entrance and at the back door. Please use them on arrival.

We are currently still card payment only so please don’t ask us to take your cash. There is however a glass behind the bar if you would prefer to tip the staff in cash.

The Government says that we are required to gather contact data from you and hold it for 21 days. This is to help with track and trace; if someone who is tested positive and has visited the pub, we can contact others who were there on that day. Already as a business we are registered and comply with Data Protection law so please be comfortable that your information will be protected and stored safely.

Toilets will be operating a one in one out policy and will be sanitised regularly by our team. Additional spray is available for your use too.

 As well as our daily cleaning schedule we have introduced extra precautions to keep you safe, such as touch points being sanitised more frequently throughout opening times and staff hand washing more frequently.

Shop opening hours remain 9am-12pm in the morning and pub hours in the evening as below:

Monday 4-9pm (no food service)

Tuesday 4-9pm (kitchen 5-8.30)

Wednesday 4-10pm (kitchen 5-9)

Thursday 4-10pm (kitchen 5-9)

Friday 4-11pm (kitchen 5-9)

Saturday 12-11pm (kitchen 5-9)

Sunday 12-8pm (kitchen 12-6)

Well, we can’t believe it’s been almost a month. Thank you so much to all of you for your wonderful support, understanding and smiles through this transition. We have had many ups and downs in recent weeks with technology letting us down, gazebo’s blowing away, electrics failing, and the list goes on; but to hear that buzz of chatter and laughter once again has been wonderful. You have all been very gracious in helping us to develop our new way of working and we have tweaked our processes through the trial and error of the last few weeks. We have a very young and new team who are learning with us and doing a fabulous job so thank you for giving them your words of encouragement which I have heard so many of you doing.

There are a couple of new initiatives that we would like to tell you about this month.

EAT OUT TO HELP OUT

Many of you will have heard of the new government scheme to help the hospitality business to recover from months of closure. In short:

• Get a 50% discount on food or non-alcoholic drinks to eat or drink in (up to a maximum of £10 discount per diner).
• Use every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between 3 and 31 August (we will open Monday if we fill all of our Tues/Wed availability) as many times as you like.
• You do not need a voucher to use this scheme and you can use it at the same time as other offers and discounts.
• There is no minimum spend.
• You cannot claim discount on alcoholic drinks or service charges.

All you need to do is book your table via email or telephone (a £5pp deposit is required on booking) and enjoy a lovely evening out heavily discounted by Rishi….we do the rest.

LOYALTY SCHEME

From 1^st August we have approx. 30 households in the village going live with our new scheme which has been borne out of many families wanting us to keep a shop facility in the village. In brief, you can set up a standing order to us from as little as £20 per month which you can spend at any time during that month at the shop, pub and take away. As a little reward for showing your support you will be automatically added to our loyalty scheme which collects points and allows you to buy a little something extra every month. It’s not a lot but it’s our little show of gratitude for your continued support. This is a trial scheme to determine whether we, as a community can/want to sustain a shop, pub and take away, so please email whitehorsebarrow@hotmail.com for further details if you would like to be involved.

We are still having to work to guidelines to keep us all safe so it’s worth just mentioning a few things to remind you.

We strongly advise that you make a booking before arrival. This helps us to regulate our staff levels and kitchen orders to ensure that we are working as efficiently as possible and most importantly, so we don’t have to turn you away.

We are now allowing customers to order drinks at the bar; however we are still working on the principal of one in one out. On busy days please expect to wait a little longer. Just because there’s nobody else at the bar, it doesn’t mean that the bar staff aren’t making drinks for other tables. You’re still in a queue!!

We have sanitiser stations at our entrance and at the back door. Please use them on arrival.

We are currently still card payment only so please don’t ask us to take your cash. There is however a glass behind the bar if you would prefer to tip the staff in cash.

The Government says that we are required to gather contact data from you and hold it for 21 days. This is to help with track and trace; if someone who has tested positive and has visited the pub, we can contact others who were there on that day. Already as a business we are registered and comply with Data Protection law, so please be comfortable that your information will be protected and stored safely.

Toilets will be operating a one in one out policy and will be sanitised regularly by our team. Additional spray is available for your use too.

 As well as our daily cleaning schedule, we have introduced extra precautions to keep you safe, such as touch points being sanitised more frequently throughout opening times and staff hand washing more frequently.

Shop opening hours remain 9-12 in the morning and pub hours in the evening as below:

Monday 4-9pm (no food service)

Tuesday 4-9pm (kitchen 5-8.30)

Wednesday 4-10pm (kitchen 5-9)

Thursday 4-10pm (kitchen 5-9)

Friday 4-11pm (kitchen 5-9)

Saturday 12-11pm (kitchen 5-9)

Sunday 12-8pm (kitchen 12-6)