The Snug Life Story-Part 1

The Snug at the moment.

Well here we are, just over five weeks into our enforced period of rest and we are now starting to plan for re-opening at the end of February.

The first three weeks we were busy with all kinds of business stuff but things have now settled down and we are starting to relax. We really have missed The Snug and all our friends but before we know it, we'll be back.

Since we opened in August 2012 we have raised over £5,000 for various charities from Help for Heroes to Bells for St George and Guide Dogs. Thank you to all for your continued generosity.

Some of the charities have been really curious about The Snug and the concept of "the micropub" so now seems as good a time as any for us to review the last five years and take stock. This post is part of that process. 

We were the first micropub to open in the North West back in 2012. A very basic definition of a micropub is a small single room establishment, we are 300 sq ft, selling real ale, real cider, wine and soft drinks with only bar snacks available rather than carveries, chicken in the basket and burgers. We have been a bit naughty and now offer a range of around 20 gins.

We read about micropubs in the Sunday Times in March 2012 and immediately wanted one, the perfect opportunity to develop the kind of pub we would want to frequent. No TV, no jukebox, no noisy gaming machines just good drink in a cosy atmosphere with good company and good conversation. We found our premises at the station, went through the licencing and planning processes, built our own pub and opened our doors for the first time on 1st August 2012. 

July 2012-preparing to open.

The key thing to developing a micropub is originality. We were driven by the chance to develop something unique that can't be found anywhere else, otherwise you may as well just buy into a conventional pub. We were the seventh micropub in the country.

Largely due to a lack of space we had to consider where our "cellar" was going to be. We didn't have a cellar so we had the idea of building one behind the bar which has become one of our big features.

Above the casks we have space to stock our wines, ciders, bottled beers and soft drinks. Within a year of opening our "cellar" wasn't big enough and we had to have it extended to hold ten casks.

When it came to selecting beers we listened to our customers, some of whom resemble walking talking beer encyclopaedias and their knowledge was invaluable when sourcing our beers and ciders. Gradually we built our list of contacts and have been able to source many beers that had never been found in our area before. A few weeks before we closed we were the first pub outside Bolton to offer beers from Northern Monkey brewery. Again originality being a constant objective of ours even after five years.

When we first opened we used to visit pubs in the area to see what beers they had on. Our intention was not to copy but to avoid duplicating. Why offer what the other pubs have on? We played an interesting game of cat and mouse with a few local breweries who eventually accepted that we wanted to establish The Snug as an original. We were doing it our way. Once we established ourselves we obviously began stocking local beers, we have many tourists visiting us who want to try local beers, but we had to build our own identity and not just ape others.

By December 2012 we began to run trips from The Snug, the first being to Marble Brewery and the Christmas Markets. Since then we have been on numerous trips to breweries and towns with quality pubs throughout the North West and will be organising more when we re-open in the New Year. We have also had special fundraising events for our various charities including gin tasting, wine tasting, quiz nights and cheese and port evenings amongst others.

Our first beer festivalposter.

In November 2103 we held our first beer festival which was a great success and quickly became an annual event which was recently listed as one of the top six food and drink events in the county by Lancashire Life magazine. Sadly this year's festival has had to be cancelled because of the building work at the station. In the meantime we are giving considerable thought to next year when we plan to come back bigger and even better.

This is an opportune time to once again thanks all our volunteers who made our first four beer festivals not only possible but also so successful. We really do appreciate your generosity and hard work.

Food plays a big part in the life of The Snug. When we lived in London local pubs would put cheese and roast potatoes on the bar for customers on a Sunday lunchtime. Especially appreciated at the end of the month when money was tight! We shamelessly stole this idea when we started opening on Sundays and in no time Sunday lunchtime developed in to a full blown Jacob's Join with people bringing in their favourite nibbles to share with everybody. Mike's bangers and Roly's canapes spring readily to mind but others bring in delicious contributions too.

Our friends Eric and Amporn (Thai Kitchen Lakeland) spent the first Saturday of the Month with us until we closed last month setting up their mobile kitchen in our outdoor area and offering delicious Thai street food from 12 00 until late. Happily they will be back with us in the New Year, especially when we have our grand re-opening.

We must mention Chippy Friday when regulars bring in chips to share and last but not least Wigan Bob's delicious home made pies on a Saturday lunch for which he only asks a donation in our Help for Heroes tin.

One of the wisest things anybody said when we were planning to open was that opening a micropub isn't just a job or a business, it's a way of life. Colin at the Conqueror micropub in Ramsgate was spot on. There have been difficult times inevitably, but they are are massively outweighed by the good times and the wonderful people we have met over the last five years.

So there we are, what we have been intending to write for our charities who have enquired what we are all about for at least two years but only now have found the time. We hope this post is informative and that you are looking forward to our re-opening after the structural repairs are completed in February as much as we are.

Looking on the bright side when we do re-open it will be the first time we will have a micropub that doesn't leak when it rains and is properly ventilated. Thanks to Julie's lobbying of Network Rail the rotten toilet floors are also being replaced so the smell of damp in the loos will be gone too.

Until then we will be updating our Facebook and Twitter accounts with interesting drink related events nearby, as well as updates on the building works, on a regular basis so please keep in touch.

Take Home Beer

Take home beer is now available in two pint containers. When we close at 9-00pm, and you fancy a nightcap, what better than taking a couple of pints home to round off your night?

While we're talking about opening times I've just received the following which explains the philosophy behind our opening hours and most of the other micropubs' opening hours:

A pub chain executive was at the bar of a small micropub in Carnforth when the pub owner came out to greet him.  Inside the bar were several regulars having a good time.  The executive complimented the owner on his ale and the presentation of his pub and asked how long it took to open the pub

The bar owner replied, "only a little while."

The executive then asked why didn't he charge more for his ale and stay open longer?

The owner said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.

The executive then asked, "but what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The owner said, "I sleep late, blog a little, play with my cats, take siestas with my wife, Julie, stroll into the village where I sip wine, and play guitar with my friends.  I have a full and busy life."

The executive scoffed, "I have an MA from Oxford and could help you.  You should spend more time opening and with the proceeds you can buy a bigger pub.  With the proceeds from the bigger pub, you could buy several pubs and open even longer and eventually you would have a chain of pubs.  You could then leave this small town and move to London, where you can run your expanding enterprise."

The pub owner asked, "But, how long will this all take?"

To which the executive replied, "15 - 20 years."

"But what then?" Asked the owner.

The executive laughed and said, "That's the best part.  When the time is right you would announce that you are becoming a public limited company and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!"

"Millions - then what?"

The executive said, "Then you would retire.  Move to a small town where you would sleep late, blog a little, play with your cats, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the town in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your friends."

Simples!

(With apologies to the Mexican Fisherman)

Going The Extra Mile

It's been an amazing ten days or so since opening. Really busy and met some great people who enjoy decent beer and good company.

Yesterday we had a chap in from our old stomping ground of South East London. Yesterday lunchtime he was in Kent doing a crawl of old and very new micropubs, especially The Conqueror Alehouse in Ramsgate which has just won Kent CAMRA's Pub of the Year 2012. Many congratulations to Colin and his wife.

Anyway, the chap from London got a message from a friend yesterday in Kent that we had opened in Carnforth. Lo and behold around 6-30 he got off a train and joined us for a pint of Dancing Duck Abduction. An hour or so later he was off back to London via Leeds and York due home around 1-00am.

Now that's what I call a dedicated real ale and micropub connoisseur.