The Malthouse and Sainsburys

The new Sainsburys store is obviously the main topic in Dorking and will be for quite some time. Even the Mole Valley District Council is on about it in the latest edition of Mole Valley News.

If the new supermarket goes ahead then the Malthouse pub will be demolished. Most of us would be pleased about this but I was thinking the other day that, for years, that pub has been a total missed opportunity. In its location it could be an upmarket family pub. I went to the Beehive near Reigate and it is one of those places that serves food all day, has a quality feel, excellent service but is reasonably priced. The Wooton Hatch and The Jolly Farmers on Reigate Road are similar pubs which offer a similar experience.

The Malthouse has been for years a teenagers heaven, but for everyone else it is hell. Badly run, lawless and naff. It has got one of the biggest beer gardens in the town, loads of space inside and it in a great location right on Meadowbank. The car park at the front is totally unneccessary as there is St Martins Walk car park just up the road - imagine if it instead had a landscaped front garden.

A missed opportunity that I feel has contributed to the idea that it should be sacrificed in order to make way for the Supermarket.

(please note that I have referred to the new development as a Supermarket rather than a Superstore. Superstore is the wrong word and seems to be used frequently for what, as it has been proposed so far, is just a new supermarket).