The Malthouse closing
After years of controversy the Malthouse is due to close in September. Whilst many peoples initial reaction would be to rejoice at this news, I think that is quite sad in the long term. The pub has suffered bouts of mismanagement for years although the position and size of the building would give it great potential as a more upmarket ‘gastro’ family pub. The garden is fantastic too.
Sadly there is a rumour that it will end up as housing or flats. Although you have to wonder about the financial viability of that considering the current state of the economy.
posted by The Cockerel @ 1:33 PM
16 Comments:
Cafe Nero moving into Currys guys...I am so excited..just what we need in Dorking :(
I hope the rest of Dorking's pubs are ready for the Malthouse Massive...
Someone tell the Cricketers to stock up on Stella and Blue WKD and their future is safe!
I wonder how many Citroen Saxos you could fit in the Kings Arms carpark? ;)
I am definitely in two minds about The Malthouse closing as its lease ends. It is always a real shame to see a pub close and this pub has a lot more potential than quite a few others in Dorking. Sadly, it has never been run properly since John Bateman and Richard ran the pub in the 1970's. John and Richard adopted a zero tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour, underage drinking and ran an incredibly tight ship down there. After they left to go down to The Pilgrim, the pub attracted the anti-social, underage drinking element. Drink promotions were rife, drinks were very cheap in price compared to the neighbouring public houses and this lead to a surge in anti-social behaviour and all the locals descended on the pub and the "massive" called this place home. I agree that The Malthouse kept the yobbo's away from the High Street and most of the problems at the weekend were generally in the vicinity of The Malthouse. I did feel sorry for the neighbouring properties as they have had to put up with more than their fair share of fights, thuggish and downright nasty behaviour. The park also was heavily littered with pint glasses, WKD and alcopops bottles on numerous occasions. Saying that, I agree with The Cockerel why hasn't a person come in to run a gastro pub? The pub is well situated, has car parking and is very large in size. The place has so much potential and although, it has a chequered history, I will be very sad to see this pub go and probably be replaced by yet more flats with very little or no provision for car parking. Surely, if this pub was run properly, got rid of the problem element, it could easily be the most profitable public house in town? To the poster above, The Cricketers does not need the Stella and WKD drinking brigade thank you. I think they have already descended onto The Surrey Yeoman at the weekends. Heard that The Bulls Head has a new team which consists of a landlord, who is a non-drinking rugby player from West Moseley. He has a no nonsense approach to underage drinking and anti-social behavour. Long may this continue. Just hoping that the beer quality can improve, as the last time I went in there my London Pride was completely off. One last note, Loch Fyne are rumoured to be the front runners for the ex-Pizza Piazza site in South Street.
Cricketers' Chris
Regarding the first post above, I really hope that the Caffe Nero taking over from Currys is just a rumour. That is the last thing Dorking needs is yet another chain coffee shop. We already have Starbucks and Costa. Reigate have Caffe Nero and Starbucks and put their foot down when Costa was after the former Age of Elegance unit. Costa pulled out because of the adverse publicity from the locals, independent coffee shops and cafes. Maybe, we should do the same thing in Dorking. It is no secret that Currys are struggling and that any of their shops which are nearing the end of their leases, will most certainly close.
No news:( zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
The rumour has been confirmed in today's Dorking Advertiser that Caffe Nero is in negotiations to buy a site in Dorking. Heaven forbid. Dorking has far too many coffee shops at present - Chimes, Fothergills, The Courtyard, Pandoro, Costa and Starbucks. It is absolutely ridiculous that Caffe Nero have even contemplated to open up in Dorking. The traders and the people must get together and fight this as the High Street is being swallowed up by the big chains and is pushing out the independent shops. I also must point out that Starbucks are closing 600 of their coffee shops across the United States. It just shows that even the chain coffee shops are not immune to an economic slow down. One last thing, has anyone else noticed the gawdy purple line that goes from the Council Offices at Pippbrook to the Dorking library? What is the point of this? It looks very tacky and the person who painted it must have very bad eye sight.
Leatherhead Lip
No clue what the purple streak of paint is intended for? It is very random and it does look really disgusting. No doubt it was not intended to be this awful colour and will probably be replaced at some point by the council at extra cost to the council tax payer. I was just hoping that the heavy downpours would have washed it away. However it is still there this afternoon. Jo
What about this idea...to give Dorking the 'heart' it really needs and the boost to be the place it could be for shopping, leisure, and, let's be idealistic, everything!
Have a look at dorkingabout.com; 'Dorking needs a heart'.
No doubt some will see it as controversial but what really would be the problem...with so much to gain? CB
Cockerel,
If I could have contacted you any other way, I would have!
Any chance of you 'posting' the idea (above, I presume) 'Dorking needs a heart' to see what sort of support/response there might be?
Thanks for any consideration
J Sainsbury WILL come to St. Martins walk. This is for sure. For all those of you who think otherwise...YOU ARE MISTAKEN. It is now the stated policy of the Dorking Preservation Society that the whole of St.Martins Walk should be demolished. This would mean that a J Sainsbury would be immediately on top of where St. Martins walk currently stands. The entrance would be parallel and linea to the high street. NB Real Estates who run St. Martins Walk for JS will not give out anymore leases. The only lease available is a short term lease. They are running it down to change public opinion against the eyesore which they are so delibereately creating. The tennants are now not allowed to dress the empty windows. Repairs to The Officers Club and Clinton Cards window frames cannot be done. Oxygen which (speaking to Richard the owner)is a success story cannot expand into the shop next door becasue they will not grant a new lease. JS will not sell St Martins Walk because they know full well they WILL get their way with time. Otherwise if is of no use to them.The Malt House is going. The people in the council and other interested parties (and well know Dorking names eg CS and SM) will not confirm anything. But meetings are taking place and the public will only find out at the last minute. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!
Who cares about Dorking -- it is dead and buried. I cannot wait till we have a larger Sainsburys. It will be a lot better than an empty and frankly really rubbish st martins walk. The shops which are trading are laughable, really pokey and would drive shoppers to shop elsewhere in the county of surrey. All that is trading is a overpriced coffee shop, a charity shop, a frozen food shop which is a ripoff, a hair salon which is always empty and a place that sells nuts. I hope that mole valley give sainsburys the goahead to built there superstore. Apparently, sainsburys want to include a chemist, a place that sells tvs, clothes and the like and are promising a state of the art library and museum. Wicked.
Jazzy Mmmmmm
why is this blog so rarely updated?
Come on Jazzy M, no need for such 'Hoodie-teenage-sounding' negativity. Agreed about the shops in St. M's Walk though Julian Graves (shop selling nuts) is one of the country's most go-ahead chains and has a good variety of stuff); the toy shop is good to have; lots of potentially good shops have come and gone and would have helped it to thrive. Correct me if I'm wrong someone but I put that down to greed and unrealistic rents.
Agreed about Sainsbury's, a chance missed, hopefully not forever; at least I, for one, would not have to go into, dare I say, L'hd, for the main shop. They would have to be stopped from diversifying into other goods (as at L'hd.) and thus knocking out the specialist shope which we need and enjoy. If that's not possible because politicians/law-makers are in the pockets of 'big business' then they would have to be blocked altogether.
If 'Wicked' was sarcastic, agreed too; the library we have is fine and the museum is a credit to the volunteers responsible. (Unconnected to that, we could do with a Heritage Centre with a focus on attracting visitors to the town and its magnificent surroundings.)
If Sainsbury's were to come.....please.....and to contribute through 'planning gain' they could enable the creation of a 'St Martin's Square', mentioned in a response above somewhere, and thus in two ways ensure that the town could compete as a thriving retail centre in a way that doesn't seem possible in the present circumstances.
Getting back to the Malthouse... "Hasn´t been run well since the 1970´s. LMAO Bateman and crew used to sell a good selection of lagers, all of which connected to Hoffmeister yet the calibre of clientele could tell the difference! I have seen the trading history of that pub over the decades and it was never more successful than it was 2000-2005. Again sick and tired of idiots who know nothing about what they are actually talking about. They class a good pub a one that doesn´t make the owner any money but as long as they can moan about Britain and enjoy a pint with a bunch of dropouts who think anyone cares what they are saying they are happy!
The Malthouse did not cater to the underage, it could afford to turn away business wheras other pubs couldn´t.
Turn it into a "gastro, family pub" It was a famliy pub, it attracted many families, and those that it attracted praised it. There was a zero tolerance for swearing in the pub and people were ejected from the premises for swearing. Animals and a bouncy castle attracted children and their families. You morons base your opinions on hearsay remnance of the reputation the place had under the owners previously praised.
Its idiots like you that will prevent it from ever becoming what you want it to be, because you are far to prejudice to let it be anything else.
The Malthouse appealed to young and old, rich and poor alike.
I would confident to say that since that management change in 2005, incidents relating to drunken bahviour in the town have escalated.
I can also say that in 2004 the pub recieved praise from Surrey police for its positive effect on the town. Indeed from 1999-2005 there had a steady decline in drink related crime, could this be attributed to the rising success of the Malthouse through those years? It must be, as with the decline, crime has increased.
I can´t comment on the pub post 2005, other than it struggled to make money, hence why now it is closing. Ask anyone that worked there through through 1999-2005 and they will tell you the management was harsh but fair.
Yes at times, there are fights, but they were always controlled and dealt with appropriately. We never had "bar brawls", Surrey Yeoman 1999, Police being knocked out, Falkland arms 2003, Cocaine fueled violence, Bulls head 2008. Need I go on?
It is the business of administering a drug, a drug that makes people lose there rational and resort to caveman insticts. The true measure is to see how this is controlled. In a pub that often catered for circa 500 people on a weekend night compare to the next biggest pub 120 people, I think it is fair to say, and the Police would agree, it was pheonominally well managed.
So get your facts straight pal.
The purple streak of paint that goes from the council offices to the library is for the visually impaired. Notice that Thornfield have put in a planning application for flats on The Malthouse site. There was a picture of the proposed development in the Advertiser. In my opinion, it looks very crowded and I worry about the safety of the park users when there are cars racing up and down Mill Lane. It also looks like every new development ie. is very uninteresting and is not that pleasing to the eye! I also agree that Mole Valley DC and town centre management must block the proposed Caffe Nero. *Kate
It looks like the end is nigh for the blog. It is never updated, the Cockerel disappears for months on end. It is a real shame as I enjoyed reading it, seeing the comments and see what was the latest news & happenings in Dorking.
The Dorking Blog -- To be continued??
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