The Malthouse Pub, Mill Lane
I quickly scanned the Dorking Advertiser in WHSmith's and noticed that there is currently some sort of outrage that the Malthouse might be bulldozed to make way for a housing development.
Whilst not reading the full article I am sure many would agree that, based on its past record, it would be no great loss to the town.
Not so long ago the pub had a bit of a revamp. Denise, the previous landlady, left and all the horrors of the past could hopefully be put to rest. The pub seems to be much improved even though I haven't been there for absolutely ages.
I have always felt that the Malthouse is a pub that has real potential. Its position next to the park and stream is good and its outlook is only spoiled by the view of Dorking Football Club. The garden is also large and could be used much better. It would work well as a 'well managed' family pub which served good food and had a relaxing atmosphere.
Imagine if it was refurbished to the same standard of the many other large pubs just outside Dorking like the Stepping Stones, Watermill etc. This is the sort of thing which has happened in many towns and these sort of places are always busy which would be the pub equivalent to having a good supermarket in the town.
It would be sad to lose another pub in the town especially to housing. Once these things are changed it is irreversable.
posted by The Cockerel @ 11:02 PM
3 Comments:
Looks like all the idiots who used to frequent The Malthouse have made their way to The Surrey Yeoman, The Bulls Head and The Old House. It is so obvious, that these pubs rather put profit before safety and would rather offer specials on cheap lager, alcopops, shots etc. Talk about havens for binge drinking, anti-social behaviour, loud and obnoxious behaviour! It is high time, that the trading standards, police and Mole Valley got together to sort out these places on a Friday and Saturday night. It was bad enough when it was just The Malthouse. Now three pubs are trying to win the title off The Malthouse for underage drinking and all round nasty behaviour. ~AP~
Sounds to me like the orignal post came from someone barred from the Malthouse, or perhaps someone that never really went to the malthouse, soley bases their views on what they read.
The reality is, it was a family pub, it catered for all ages, and all types of people.
I used to work their, and I will defend it with a passion.
A pub will not survive on the casual drinker alone, nor will it survive on the ale drinkers.
The watermill was owned by the same company that owned the Malthouse. You could go into the Watermill and have a fantastic Steak and Ale pie, with either chips, mash or jacket, veg and gravy. For this, you would pay around 10 pounds. At the Malthouse, you could get exactly the same pie, chips, mash, veg gravy, for 4.95, on a 2 for 1 deal. Yes thats two pies, exactly the same pies for half the price, in effect one pie for a quarter of the price!
They both have the same suppliers, you just pay more because one is a restaurant with a bar, the other is a pub that does food.
To my knowledge there is no where in the town that had that kind of value for money.
I don´t suppose you realise that the Malthouse offered a full sunday roast for OAPs at only 2.50! Sundays would bring in 20-30 pensioners who would take advantage of this offer. Who else in the town does that?
There was one woman, Gladys I believe her name was, she would walk several miles once a week to enjoy a childrens dinner 2.50 and a glass of sherry. She would always sit by the window, enjoying the view.
At weekends, during the day, the pub would be teaming with families, children playing on the bouncy castle, looking at the animals.
During weekdays, there was a good office crowd that would come in for the good selection of baguettes, jacket potatoes, etc, all at affordable prices.
In the evenings, and when sport was on, a younger crowd was encouraged. However of all the pubs, the Malthouse by far and away enjoyed the most diverse clientele of all of them, attributing in part to their success.
One important international football match, we had laid on seating for the elderly right at the front by the big screen, it was a great sight to see the young and the old mixing. Families were there, and there wasn´t any trouble.
People would be thrown out for swearing as we ran this as a family establishment, Denise had children as well.
Yes there were incidents, from time to time, moreso in the very beginning of Denises reign, which was a tough time for her, cleaning out the riff raff from the previous managment.
The Malthouse had a name for itself before Denise took it over, and it never really lost that. It is biggots like yourself who look down your nose at the people that go there, believing them all to be scum. It is not the case.
Remember this establishment had over 500 people inside the pub for the international football matches, on days where riots happened in croydon. No riots in dorking. Infact, the only thing that ever came close to a riot in the town, was when the Police insisted, many years ago, the Malthouse not show a particular football match. The pub closed for the night, and the football followers were furious!
As someone that was involved in the pub scene in dorking 24/7, I would love to know what makes you think you can make such ill educated comments.
The flattering thing is, that everyone knows the name the Malthouse, everyone talks about it. Thats becuase it was a popular place.
It is such a shame people like you are responsible for ruining it.
The last laugh being, the people that previously frequented it, now frequent your pubs.
Wake up, you are just a snob. The Malthouse provided affordable entertainment for those on a budget, it also attracted familys, well off, and not so well off, people from all walks of life. Solicitors, bankers, so called "nice types" you would consider.
You´re just too up yourself to get involved.
I suggest you get with the spirit of things, Dorking needs a place like that, and its absense is seriously affecting the trade in the rest of the town.
I would lay money on it, right now, if you were to ask, any of the local police, "would you have the malthouse back how it was, right now" All of them would say yes.
They saw first hand that it was run and controlled extremely well.
You might ask why the "police" objected to the late license application. Licensing is governed by the licensing officer, who has a duty of care to local residents. The local residents did not want this going through and therefore the licensing officer represented their views. The local police can not give support to us publicly, however if they could have, they would have.
Destruction, borken bottles, noise, disturbance, that eminated from that part of town, came not from the pub (with possibly exception to the music) but from those that frequented the football club and the kids on Meadowbank.
Anything that happened down that road was blamed on the Malthouse, when the reality is that the Football club was home to everyone in dorking with a wrap sheet. Yet no one ever blamed the football club...
One of the funniest moments was when someone came upto a customer and asked where in the Malthouse he could buy drugs, the customer retorted "you must be joking mate, you won´t get drugs in here, the best bet is the football club"
That someone was an undercover policeman.
You know nothing about Dorking, enjoy your pint of ale won´t you.
I am looking for a good (hopefully Dorking based ) Solicitor, for a messy divorce and settlement. One that would fight hard as the opposition would definitely fight dirty and lie a great deal.
Cheers
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