25 replies to this topic

[sarah]

Hi

Just wondering if anyone knows if the Ellie is permanently closed ? I am enjoying the lack of noise at the moment !!

Sarah

[hyposmurf]

Hopefully a refurb or new owners might come along.Last few times I was in that place it wa really falling apart.Remember the barmaid passing a man sitting at the bar a screwdriver whilst drinking his pint.He was then bent over tightening screws for her.

[Jeannie686]

Hi ya,

I live virtually opposite the place.... last I heard the land had bee bought by someone who wanted to convert the place into flats. We had a letter through from their solicitors a while ago, updating us on the situation. They wanted to make the flats into 2 bedrooms but couldn't get permission because there was no parking, so now they are making them into 1-bed flats with parking.

That was some while ago now though and we haven't heard anything since.

[sarah]

A friend spoke to the landlady and it has gone into receivership.....

Hopefully it will re-open with some quieter customers!

[Eaton]

Are we talking about the pub in Old Amersham or Waterside, Chesham?

[sarah]

Old Amersham.

[Eaton]

Old Amersham.

I thought that was the case but I know that Jeannie is talking about Chesham.

I went into the Elephant and Castle in Old Amersham earlier this year. Sticky tables, underage very drunk girls, rude obnoxious young men = horrible place!

Oh and the drinks white wine for me and bitter/beer for the men were yuk.

[Fran]

They wanted to make the flats into 2 bedrooms but couldn't get permission because there was no parking, so now they are making them into 1-bed flats with parking.

I realise that this refers to the Chesham elephant, but am I the only person who doesn't understand how those sums stack up?

[Jeannie686]

Oh, there's an Elephant and Castle in Old Amersham? I didn't know that!

Fran, I'm recalling from memory what it said on the letter from a while ago, I should look for the letter again as I know we kept it. I did think it odd that we hadn't heard anything about it since that one letter from a solicitors company.

[hyposmurf]

I assumed you were talking about the Amersham E&C,had almost forgotten about that pub,as I thought it had closed and been bought by a developer.

[Fran]

The Old Amersham Elephant and Castle has had a refurb. It looked open when I drove past on Friday evening - or if not, very nearly so. I've no idea if it's new people and if so, how it's changed and I can't find a website. Has anyone been in?

[Bawbag]

We popped in on the evening of the 29th. Not particularly busy and you could tell the place had just been recently done up, but the staff were friendly and attentive and the majority of the clientèle were similar to us (35-40, devastatingly stylish) so it felt very welcoming. Decent-ish music on too, and at a reasonable volume

[MichaelHooley]

In the couple of months since it reopened, this spot has happily become our "local" -- literally and figuratively. I'm not a professional reviewer, so I'm not about to dissect the menu and wax lyrical over the fare. Suffice to say, they deserve to be successful in both food and drinks departments.

[Bawbag]

Yup, we popped in over the weekend again and it struck us again how good a pub it is.

[strangeoldamersham]

Change in ownership has brought no reduction in noise level outside the place on Friday and Saturday nights, same old screaming, shouting, and swearing as closing time approaches and after doors closed, when people hanging around for taxis.

[Rob]

Yep! that's what living near a pub means - just like living near a school means no parking near your house and cars parked across driveways and on verges etc. twice a day.

[MichaelHooley]

Change in ownership has brought no reduction in noise level outside the place on Friday and Saturday nights, same old screaming, shouting, and swearing as closing time approaches and after doors closed, when people hanging around for taxis.

Why would we expect a change in ownership to bring about a change in oafish behaviour on the part of some customers? As Rob pointed out, it's a pub.

[strangeoldamersham]

I didn't expect there to be a change. I was a bit bemused to be told when I went in for the very first time (a few weeks after the re-opening) that the pub didn't attract 'that type' of customer anymore.

I disagree that we should expect certain downsides when living close to eg pubs or schools. A good friend used to live next to a very popular pub in central Winchester which attracted a great cross section of people and there were no screaming matches on the pavements around closing time. People knew they would not get back in again if they couldn't go merrily on their way reasonably sensibly.

Schools that manage the parking plague well use intermittent swoops of traffic wardens, publishing of offending number plates in the school newsletter and patrols by the Head and/or other senior staff. Less 'stick' more 'carrot' in nature is setting up a 'drop and go' service managed on a rota basis by volunteer parents. This can dramatically cutdown on the congestion around a school in the morning.

[K&P]

I'm sure you've already had a word to the Manager? S/he may make an effort to identify the noisy customers and have a word with them. I must say, I thought the refurb. was great and I imagined the clientele would change accordingly - not so many younger people. (I am assuming those behaving poorly are on the younger side?) There are other pubs in town: do they create the same closing time debacle?

K

[MichaelHooley]

So, have you had a word with the manager?

With due respect to your friend in Winchester, I suggest you are confusing your closing-time inconvenience in Olde Elmondesham with what is a sea-change in acceptable behaviour in 21st century Britain. When I started frequenting pubs, we weren't driven outside to smoke, we laughed (rather then guffawing loudly), we cheered a local goal (rather than WOOO-WOOO-ing) and we neither tripped over multi-wheeled perambulators nor talked over the noise of uncontrolled children.

I'll suggest to you that we've simply become a lot louder! Plebs that we are

[K&P]

I'll suggest to you that we've simply become a lot louder! Plebs that we are

Speak for yourself! (Said quietly)

[strangeoldamersham]

I believe it was the manager I was speaking to (hence my bemusement).

I think the landlord of the Winchester pub is due the respect, he knows what's happening inside the pub and on the pavements outside during his busiest hours. It's not an isolated case, I've been to plenty of other pubs that manage to do the same. I lived two doors down from a really busy pub for five years (early part of this century) and we often went in a Saturday night, great place, wide age range of customers. If we stayed in on a Saturday night, sure we could hear closing time but it was fairly rare to think, 'sounds like another fight is going to kick off'.

My grandpa had a brass plaque engraved with 'children should be seen and not heard'. Ah those were the days!

[MichaelHooley]

If we stayed in on a Saturday night, sure we could hear closing time but it was fairly rare to think, 'sounds like another fight is going to kick off'.

Perhaps it's because the E & C's clientele generally have to await their taxis at closing time (rather than, like the rest of us, making their way home on their hands and knees.)

I don't subscribe to the sentiment on your grandfather's plaque. However, I might buy one that said 'Adults in pubs should not impose their undisciplined children on complete strangers.'

My wife tells me that this blog is accelerating my journey into Grumpy Old Manville. She's right, but I'll know where to turn for company!

[strangeoldamersham]

It generally starts well before closing though. Luckily we can move if necessary and put it down to experience. My precise concern is that the pub is either ignorant of problems that are persisting since the change in ownership, or turn a blind eye, unless a fist gets put through their window.

I suppose sometimes things can be vaguely amusing. The large black gates on the opposite side of the road seem fairly popular for urinating against (I assume because the person has forgotten to go to the loo before closing time and they see....a black hole in front of them?). We parked up in the road late one night and popped our lights onto full beam when someone was doing their deed. They looked into our lights, then up at the gates in confusion, lost their balance and fell into the little river they had made!

Undisciplined children in pubs is another issue that one can only raise with a pub and see if they do anything about it. Depends on whether they notice or acknowledge what you are perceiving to be a problem. Speaking to the parents directly is pretty pointless because their 'my children are getting out of control' radar hasn't already gone off.

[Eaton]

I rarely go into pubs in Old Amersham in the evenings and particularly at weekends precisely because of the behaviour of a lot of the other pubgoers and it is by no means just the younger ones that misbehave! I once listened to a particularly nasty piece of work (approx 40yo but looked like she'd had a hard life) explaining in a very well educated voice the reason why she disliked my husband and I was because we were trash because we didn't live in Old Amersham as we couldn't afford it... Anyone that knows me and my temper will understand just how difficult it was to not give her a Harrow Headache but I managed to and confined myself to politely informing her in Spanish exactly what I thought of her, we then listened to her telling all her friends about 'foreigners' cheating the UK public!

It's a sad fact of life that however quaint and idyllic looking Old Amersham is during the day it takes on a completely different stance at night, the only pub I will go to in Old Amersham if I absolutely have to in the evening is The Kings Head but that's more of a hotel/wine bar.

If you've already spoken to the Landlord and nothing has been achieved then you could speak to the Council, Police and Head Office of the pub to put your concerns across but ultimately in these economic times when so many pubs are closing the Head Office may only be happy that the pub is busy...

[MichaelHooley]

It's a sad fact of life that however quaint and idyllic looking Old Amersham is during the day it takes on a completely different stance at night, the only pub I will go to in Old Amersham if I absolutely have to in the evening is The Kings Head but that's more of a hotel/wine bar.

I assume you mean The Kings Arms. The pub section is every bit as noisy as the E & C. We are neighbours.

Referring to my earlier post, I'm certain we should be talking about 2010 behaviour, rather than criticizing a particular pub.