Latest news with #Sneinton
Yahoo
06-08-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Two Nottingham pubs only 350 metres apart - one's blossoming, the other is boarded up
One's a boarded-up eyesore, the other is absolutely blooming. These two pubs are a stone's throw from each other in Sneinton but their fortunes couldn't be more different. Drinkers said the Wheatsheaf, in Sneinton Road, used to be a great packed out pub in its heyday but had been struggling for years and according to one, the building needs "a lot of work doing". It's believed the pub closed its doors a few weeks ago and more recently metal shutters have been installed at the doors and windows. Tall weeds cover the unkempt beer garden at the front, with some growing between the gaps in the well-worn wooden picnic tables. Built in the mid-1960s, it was a typical community pub with a pool table and darts board. READ MORE: New tenant for former Nottingham city centre Wilko - but neighbouring Poundland could move out READ MORE: Nottinghamshire couple only offered £90 bill discount after sewage flood ruins garden Members of the Nottingham branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) tried to have it registered as an Asset of Community Value in 2016 but the move, which would have given protection if the owners wanted redevelop or demolish the building, was rejected by Nottingham City Council. Philip Murden, who lives in Carlton but used to live in Walker Road, Sneinton, just around the corner from the Wheatsheaf, said: "I used to be in here all the time. It used to be great years ago. It used to be really busy around 2000. I haven't been in for years. "There used to be around 30 pubs round here at one time. People can't afford to go out and drink anymore when it's £6 a pint. They're tied to the breweries and then there's the overheads. I don't think it will ever reopen as a pub. They could knock it down and put about 12 flats in." William Robertson, 78. of Sneinton, said: "It used to be a marvellous family pub. It was my local at one time and it was fabulous. It changed hands and every time it changed it seemed to go downhill. "It had the heart ripped out of it. Pub companies want too much out of the profits and it kills it." added the pensioner. The Wheatsheaf is one of around 340 pubs belonging to Trust Inns, which describes itself as one of the longest standing pub companies in the UK. Although featured on its website, it is not currently available to let. Nottinghamshire Live contacted the company for a comment but no one responded. Across the road, the Bath Inn is a prime example of a thriving pub. Landlord Piers Baker had never pulled a pint in his life when he took over the closed rundown pub in Handel Street. He has pulled out all the stops to make the freehouse a real landmark - his tiny corner of 'Covent Garden' - with a unique interior and stunning exterior whatever the season. "Business is very good. They come from far afield. It's a destination pub," he said. Piers, from the famous Wheatcroft family of rose growers, spent 35 years in the horticultural business, working around the world in Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Australia, America and New Zealand until the pandemic stopped him. He gave the pub a new lease of life, opening the doors once again in 2021, coincidentally not far from where Wheatcroft founders Harry and Alfred, his grandfather and great uncle, were born in Sneinton in the 19th century. "I had never poured a pint. I had zero experience - I was a massively experienced customer. I opened it through a customer's eyes. I wanted to create something I would adore, and luckily people agreed with me and they come in droves," he said. "It takes passion, imagination, understanding the customer, and caring. You have to create something the customer likes, that's different." The line-up of ales at the bar has a local flavour, amongst them Pheasantry Brewery's Best Bitter, Black Iris' Endless Summer, and Lenton Lane's Twist & Stout as well as crowd-pleasing lager Madri and Rattler Cider. Another attraction is the 200 or so types of single malt whisky, including rare Springbank, the Holy Grail of whisky. "It's the largest collection in Nottinghamshire. I buy from auctions so we have a real eclectic mix that you wouldn't get in any other pub or supermarket," said Piers. One key factor is service. "Paramount to the training of the staff is politeness. It's no mate, bud, love, darling. It's eye contact, it's smiling, it's sir, madam, old-fashioned customer service that people used to have years ago that we used to take for granted. Politeness is disarming and all our staff are endlessly polite." The quirky pub is a magnet for visitors from far and wide as well as the locals. The outside is unusual in itself, having been given a makeover in 1926 to create a façade of ornate patterned tiles in the distinctive Egyptian revival style that had become fashionable after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb two year earlier. Decades later the once-stark interior was transformed by Piers with an eclectic mix of photogenic features, such as a replica Tutankhamun sarcophagus, a diver over the bar, a working 1930's telephone, a gramophone and a display of spangling Elton John caps. You'll find a Tardis too - a nod to Piers' father Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who. Outside is currently awash with colour from the many hanging baskets Piers has lost count of. "Around 80," he estimated. Each basket that makes up the "Hanging Gardens of Sneinton" contains hot pink and blue surfinias, blue and white trailing lobelia, pink fuchsias, nepeta trailing ivy and silver leaf helichrysum with a centrepiece of brown palms known as cordyline. Will Woodward, of Breaston Farm Shop, created the spectacle. "I've never done anything as big as this, but I'm quite chuffed with the result," he said. Dotted around the flowers are parrots "because they're fun," said Piers. Children love counting the birds, while not a day goes by without someone taking photographs of the eye-catching pub. "The joy of the flowers is to improve the area. Every time I'm out there watering and dead heading, the enthusiasm is great. People stop and shout 'wonderful'." Last December the pub was adorned with 60 Christmas trees illuminated by 35,000 Christmas lights. For 2025, the plan is to make the display even bigger and better with 100 trees. Andrew Ludlow, secretary of the Nottingham branch of CAMRA, said: "It is always sad when the doors of a pub close. Whilst pubs are still shutting down and closing at an alarming rate it is fair to state that imaginative and innovative entrepreneurs are still able to successfully run local pubs and the Bath Inn is a wonderful example of what can be achieved. "This former Shipstone's pub, after many years of neglect, was transformed. Quality cask ales are available and the pub is extremely popular not just with locals but customers from far and wide, visiting to see a truly remarkable pub."
BBC News
31-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Sneinton: 'We could have to pay £1m to fix a collapsed wall'
Residents in a Nottingham suburb say they are facing a bill of hundreds of thousands of pounds to repair a retaining Drayton, who lives on Windmill Lane in Sneinton, said the 70ft (21.34m) structure collapsed on 3 February 30-year-old said residents have been unable to get costs for repairs covered by insurers, and called on Nottingham City Council - who rebuilt the wall in 2003 - to "take responsibility".The council said it will not comment "as the wall is privately owned and therefore the council is not responsible for its upkeep or repair". Mr Drayton, who has lived in his house since 2016, said the wall was rebuilt by the council in 2003, but said two structural engineers hired by neighbours found the structure "was never fit for purpose in the first place".After the "massive panic" caused by the collapse, he said residents were left with a £60,000 bill to clear up 200 tonnes of debris, and described the current difficulties in finding a permanent fix as a "tricky situation"."The design flaw was in the wall that had been signed off by Nottingham City Council, and paid by Nottingham City Council, which was subsequently then charged back to us," he said."It's been a four-year process where people have really been struggling, emotionally and financially." Without the wall, Mr Drayton said the site is "totally unsafe", with residents unable to use their gardens without risking more said they are struggling to find a way to pay for the necessary work."We've been in contact with lots of builders, structural engineers and whatnot, trying to understand what the cost of the rebuild would be, and that cost is somewhere between £600,000 and £1m, and that's between six houses," he said."To put that in perspective, I bought the house - my first home - for less than the value of what it would cost to rebuild that wall, so it puts us in a really difficult situation."How we see it is that it's the council that has put us in that situation, because they didn't rebuild the wall properly in the first place, and we've got proof of that."With one neighbour putting up their house for auction and others having had therapy to deal with the stress, Mr Drayton said they face an uncertain future."Financially we can't really do a lot about it," he said."None of us can move from it until it's done."
BBC News
28-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Police find drugs farm in Sneinton after attempted break ins
A large quantity of cannabis plants were discovered at a house in Sneinton after police were alerted to attempted break-ins in the Police said officers were called to Sneinton Boulevard at about 02:40 BST on Wednesday following reports of two masked men climbing over a gate before receiving a further call of an attempted break-in in Westwood force said officers found a nearby house with boarded up windows, with the sound of "constant whirring" coming from within. Police then gained entry to the property and found parts of it had been converted into cannabis-growing areas.A 35-year-old man was arrested at the property on suspicion of cultivating a Class B drug. Nottinghamshire Police said it discovered about 150 plants in the property as well as growing rooms fitted with lamps and fans.
