Carnforth Station Heritage Centre

If our planning and licensing applications are granted we will be opening The Snug at the Carnforth Station Heritage Centre. We have tried to keep the exact location under our hats, not wanting to tempt fate, but so many people now know that we may as well let everybody know. We are confident that there shouldn't be any problems but please say a prayer, keep your fingers crossed and touch wood just in case.

What's particularly exciting is the chance to contribute to what is already a tremendous asset to Carnforth, the Station Heritage Centre. There is already the successful Brief Encounter Tearoom and the owners of the tearooom have recently opened a bakery on the site. There is the wonderful Bay Models shop and Rugs to Riches selling an exciting range of rugs and floor coverings.

Being located on the station, and with a bus stop immediately outside, we are confident that we will attract real ale drinkers to Carnforth who will then patronise the other businesses at the station as well as the other shops and businesses in Carnforth. There isn't a single pub in Carnforth in the current CAMRA Good Beer Guide. That will be one of our targets!

There are currently pubs in Carnforth that cater for people who enjoy watching the football, who enjoy watching live acts, who enjoy a pub meal, or enjoy playing a gaming machine. The Snug will complement what is currently on offer to people by offering a place where there will be no music, no TV or gaming machines and no hot meals. We will not be selling lager, spirits and certainly no 'alcopos' or 'shots'. We will be offering people a quiet atmosphere in which to drink cask real ale brewed in local microbreweries, and good quality wine, both at affordable prices.

We are currently sourcing our products, all of which will be as local as possible. Yes, we know North Lancashire doesn't rival the Loire in wine production, but we will be using local importers for our wines whenever we can, rather than a huge corporate chain.

We have had a fantastic response from local people, including local businesses, and we are extremely excited about The Snug. We are confident that micropubs are the future and that even in these dark days of recession we will bring another businness to Carnforth that will help, in it's own small way, to contribute to the further development of Carnforth despite these difficult financial times.

Business Network International and The Snug, Carnforth

I was kindly invited to a meeting of local business people on Friday morning last week. BNI is a networking group and has members from a whole range of local professions and businesses. I was invited to speak about The Snug micropub.

The meeting was extremely positive and I was heartened by the number of people who came up afterwards to assure me that they intended to become regulars when we open. For those present it was clear that like any business, we will become customers of other local businesses such as electricians, washroom equipment suppliers and many more.

In addition we will also be bringing into Carnforth real ale drinkers who might not otherwise visit. Some of those customers will then go on to become customers of other businesses in Carnforth and so on. It would be great to eventually be able to employ a local person if we become busy enough. Who knows?

So a big thank you to BNI for their generous invitation and extremely positive response to The Snug in Carnforth.

Homemade Scotch Eggs

Just popped my first batch of homemade scotch eggs in the oven. If I reach an acceptable standard then hope to sell them as bar snacks when we open.

These are straightforward with a seasoning of mixed herbs, sea salt and freshly milled black pepper. Planning to try some with black pudding, others with hoisin and maybe a chilli scotch egg, I like a bit of fire in my food.

Any suggestions for other variations on a theme more than welcome.

Applications In!

Premises License application in. Planning application in. It's all systems go.

Today I have been doing some very serious research, checking out bar snacks. Up to now I have found the finest pork pies and scotch eggs I've come across in a long time, made up the road in Cumbria using locally sourced products. However, other suggestions will always be gratefully received.

Building The Bar

Many micropub owners are good at DIY and have built their own cool rooms/cellars and bars, I'm afraid if I built my own bar it would collapse as I pulled the first pint. So I now have meetings booked at the proposed premises with a couple of local chaps who I know can do a good job.

In the meantime, as the planning process creeps along, I am having great fun sourcing seating, bar equipment and those different little extras that I hope will add character to The Snug. I must admit I am enjoying this process but still feel like a big kid waiting for Christmas as far as the actual opening goes.

Anyway, that's been my fun for the morning. Now on to dealing with yet more paperwork.

Derby Micropub

The micropubs are on the march. News has reached us of an application to open a micropub in Derby. We have been in touch via Twitter to get more details and will update as soon as we can. You can find them on Twitter at: @MicropubDerby

Twitter

We are now on Twitter: @TheSnugMicropub Please feel free to follow.