The purpose of the blog was to follow the story of my pub and I am concious that I haven’t written much lately. I guess that’s a good place to start, to explain what is taking my time at the moment. It’s a very busy time at work and I find myself working across multiple projects this isn’t unusual but it does mean that there are a lot of ‘compartments’ active in my mind.
Work is still ‘day job’ obviously but behind that there is the pub. The pub isn’t just a business it doesn’t have its own way or direction. I am learning the building and its needs, balancing the renovations against budget and working through huge lists of trades and suppliers. Amongst all of this there is the list of jobs for me, no matter what I do I add more than I close out.
Then of course there is relocation, I have things to sort in the flat and other preparation to make for the physical move. Of course, it goes without saying, that I want to spend time with my friends and sort other projects before I go. If this doesn’t sound like enough then factor in the movements, planning journeys, hotels, meetings and aligning invoices and commitments.
Anyway that’s enough excuses the point of this is to document where the pub is. I have one flat roof sorted, many more to go but hey its done, invoiced and paid. The stonemason has started ripping out the old mortar which hopefully looks scarier than it really is! We are keeping the stone now and repairing rather than lime rendering, I am pleased because I like the stone but it’s one of those areas that is frustrating as I am entirely reliant on the trades knowledge.
The alarms are now reinstated and as a result I have left the power and water on. This may not sound much but separating those two utilities and keeping them in their respective conduits has taken some time and significant work. I now have an access path from the office to the bar ceiling for cctv cabling, one cable is run and there is a draw wire alongside it. Again this sounds easy until you remember that it is a pub and nothing is easy. Access to a false ceiling is limited to a 30 cm square hole on one side, with the office access point being nearly 2 m in front. On the other side access is a few of metres from the lowest point of the pitch so it involves laying between the joists and slidinrious objects through the void.
This task would be complicated if you didn’t add gems like bare conductors that are still live in the roof void (that woke me up), timbers that are not attached or miles of cables and random pipes. After hours of graft and many trips up and down the ladder, pulling cables is not the best of solo tasks, I coughed and spluttered rockwall and cobwebs and once again thought “it doesn’t look much”. I started pressurising the hot water system before realising that the 15 mm fill pipe was simply pressurising the 4 mm hole left when somebody removed a radiator bleed screw!
Gas is the next utility to get under control, heating to flush and re-commission and get the beer supplies arranged aka the fourth utility! In other news the first drafts from the sign writer look good and I should see prices from Heineken this week although I suspect this will be the first of many revisions. How does she look? Well she is coming along. How do I feel? Well I can sum that up by saying that I received the new premises licence, with my name on it, and it made me so proud. I love my little pub. I am immensely proud of her and determined to hit my opening deadlines after all I’ve got all of the bills I should at least have the doors open!