The Wharf Macclesfield

Bumps and new projects

Chris — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:36:22 +0000

Hi all,

A little blog to say hello and to announce the great news that Jane, my adored wife, is pregnant with our second child. A due date of early November means it is going to be a busy summer as I squeeze all the preparation around running the pub.

Also I am hopefully pushing on with another project to run alongside the pub. More news on that when we know!

Chris

Awkward angle!

Chris — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:17:30 +0000

A little smut for a Friday.

Oops!

Beer Duty

Chris — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:40:51 +0000

Seems that our local MP, David Rutley, isn’t supporting reform of the Beer Duty. This isn’t surprising really but not very good when his constituency has such a proud tradition of brewing. This town accommodates two very fine breweries and many super pubs. We have tourists coming into the town just to try these pubs. By, we have an MP who won’t support a reform to the tax which is killing the industry. Fully willing to build on the green belt and over-develop the town centre though!

Read the Morning Advertiser report here - http://tinyurl.com/byf2kbf

Sent Mr Rutley a mail from here – www.wychwood.co.uk

Sunday Showcase – 27 January 2013

Chris — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 23:55:47 +0000

A brief review of our Sunday Showcase at the end of January 2013.

“The Sunday Showcase at The Wharf on the last Sunday of the month brought us its usual variety of seasoned pros, regular session artists and debutants. A little comedy from co-organiser Gary Baker, aka Chester le Flange, opened. Then to a debut performance from Charlotte White who at 14 mesmerised the audience with her solo acoustic set. The Mysterious H then did a few numbers, unfazed by the now excited, talkative crowd. A wee interlude of pro folk musicians from the band Maplewood then did their thing of instrumental toe-tappers. Dave Fairbrother and son Adam then closed the night with a collection of covers with a rowdy rendition of Mighty Quinn boxing off the night. What an incredible and diverse way to enjoy a Sunday evening.”

Poor blogger

Chris — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:46:04 +0000

yes, so there, I admit it. I am a really poor blogger and never post anything! I promise, in the new year I will try harder!

Letter to Mr Rutley MP

Chris — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 10:04:09 +0000

Dear Mr Rutley,

As you will no doubt be aware, the topic of the Beer Duty Escalator is to be discussed in the Commons on November 1st. This is after over 100 thousand people signed a petition raised by CAMRA to force the house into the discussion.

Macclesfield has a great reputation for beer and pubs, historically and recently. We are seeing responsible pubs serving real ales blooming in the town. We have two successful breweries in the town with two more in Bollington, and numerous rurally. The reputation for ale in the town is now so good, we get tourists coming into the area to drink.

Our local brewers and pubs are small businesses that the government are meant to be nurturing and helping. We pay our taxes and VAT. Us publicans buy local beers keeping money in the area.

It has been released by the British Beer And Pub Association this week that the third quarter of this year saw a 4.8% drop in pub beer sales which meant 117M less pints sold, even though we had the Olympics and European Football which should see sales soar. That is over £50 million in beer duty alone not going into the coffers!

With increases of 2% over inflation until 2015, the cost of a pint in the local pub is going to rocket. The number of people using pubs and therefore local brewers, will plummet. Beer duty intake from small brewers will decrease, more local pubs will close. That means less SME pubs and brewers paying VAT, employing people, paying PAYE. Instead supermarkets and continental brewers will reap rewards. We all know how much tax these guys pay…

As a voter, a publican, an employer, a father, a taxpayer, I want to know you will be there fighting to maintain the trade in this town. Helping support the local brewers and responsible pubs who drive visitors into the town, the pubs which hold the communities together.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours,

Chris Stairmand

The Wharf

To bring you up to date…

Chris — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:36:51 +0000

Wow, its been a long time since my last blog. I suspect this will be a little lengthy! Been a busy boy you see, and just haven’t gotten round to putting finger to key. I can’t blame Draw Something entirely, but that has occupied some of my random free time! Now I think a chronological order will be the most sensible option, so back to Easter we go…. Just imagine the Waynes World flashback moment…

Friday 13th April brought us a return visit from “A little Preece and Dove”. A two guitar duo from Congleton playing some great roots and relaxed music. Having been compared to Simon & Garfunkel, you can get an idea what they were like. Lots of harmonies and complex guitar work. In fact I’ve seen electric “lead” guitarists play less complex solos! Really enjoyable and will be returning.

The weekend after saw a very busy time for the pub. Mozarts Gokarts played the Friday with their huge mix of rock and blues classics. Silver Machine to end a top night. They always bring a big crowd of appreciative people and a real party atmosphere. The Saturday was a surprise 30th party for Sy, one of our pool team. A complete surprise for him with lots of friends and embarrassing pictures pinned up. On Sunday we had a hog roast for East Cheshire Hospice organised by JP Exhausts who had made the spit roast machine and sourced a great bit of meat. A full house with quite a chunk of cash raised for the Hospice.

On Friday 27th we hosted Dazed & Confused. Renown as a great party band and having played at The Hollins a couple of years ago, I was looking forward to seeing them play again. The pub was heaving and very hot and the band played superbly. A super night in all aspects. You can read the D&C blog about it here.

Tuesday 1st May saw something completely different happen. We had Kaleidoscope Big Band play in the pub for a customers birthday celebration. Now when I say Big Band, I mean 15 piece Big Band! Playing everything from Glenn Miller classics through some crooner swing to full on early Rock’n'Roll. It was an astounding night with dancing and enjoyment that no one would expect in a corner pub midweek! It was also the perfect start to a mini-break to Yorkshire that Jane and I were having for our wedding anniversary. We were back in time for the Friday night where the pub hosted the Brook Street Four from Manchester, the name is just a coincidence! BS4 played a lovely range of music from piano solos to 4 part harmonies and guitar work. Lead by Tracey Browne who is a superb roots/folk musician in her own right. You can view her site and listen to her music here, also there is an iPhone App of her album Everyone Is Ordinary which is great. Just search for it.

The Saturday, 5th May, we welcomed Michelle from Offbeat Brewery in Crewe for a Meet The Brewer session. A very informative presentation to a group of avid listeners (and drinkers) and all 4 taps pulling Offbeat beers. Shame I didn’t get chance to hear any of it as the pub was too busy. One day I’ll organise something that I can enjoy as a customer!

Phew, nearly there! One more weekend to go… Friday 11th brought Mumbo Jumbo back for a return visit. These guys are now a three piece band with blues type roots that I called Skiffle but they played a massive range of music to appeal to all ears. They even brought a bass ukelele which sounded like a stand-up bass. Mind blowing stuff. Considering we were competing against the Macc Beer Festival, we had a good night and MJ will be returning again soon.

On the Saturday I had offered to work the bar at the Beer Festival lunchtime session. A good time to try some beers that were new to me and talk to present and new customers alike. The Saturday session seems to have really picked up over the years and is still my preference. I enjoyed some lovely beers which will be making an appearance on the bar soon. After the festival, I hopped on the Pub Bike and rode back to the pub to get ready to work. I was slightly apprehensive about having a quiet night but my fears where dispelled quickly as I realised Manatees were playing again! I love this band and on Saturday they really excelled. Their version of Allman Brothers Whipping Post is still one of my favourite live covers. In the half time break we even managed to show the Britains Got Talent coverage of The Showbears doing a special appearance with David Walliams. Tom, the bassist for Manatees, is the brother of Will Read, one of The Showbears. You can watch the video on YouTube here. A super night and one of the reasons I have booked Manatees as our Sunday Sessions house band. The first session is this Sunday, the 20th May.

Now, we are pretty much up to date. There is still another blog within me yet after an eventful trip to Sheffield this week but it’ll have to wait until after I have given Darcey her lunch.

Brew time,

Chris

World Homeopathy Awareness Week

Chris — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:17:27 +0000

Supposedly it is World Homeopathy Awareness Week.

I would like to use this time to highlight the stupidity of homeopathy and the danger that these quacks can, and have, caused. Attached are links to a Guardian articlehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2012/apr/17/1, a letter to a homeopath from her victim http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2011/s3260776.htm, and an attempted legal action from the aforementioned quack to a blogger http://www.danbuzzard.net/journal/francine-scrayen-sends-me-a-cease-and-desist.html

Please, read the articles, do a bit of your own research, read a little Ben Goldacre, form your own opinions. Most importantly, become educated.

Magical Marbles

Chris — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:19:26 +0000

It’s been ages since I last wrote a blog post, so thought I should make a bit of time. Well, it’s Sunday, I’m in the quiet spell pre-football match. I should have done the Cat and Fiddle this morning in training for the quickly approaching Coast to Coast in June. More on that another time. We’ve certainly had lots going on in the pub recently. Where to start…

Pub Games seems as a good a place as any. We are 4 games into the Summer league for pool and presently 2 won matches with Sy being 4 wins for 4 games. Well done to him and the rest of the lads. Darts is something we have being trying to get in to, and have now succeeded in getting a team, starting the Summer season in June. I’m looking forward to having a chuck with them.

Music. Now we get to the interesting stuff! We have got some great live stuff upcoming up with Maedhgh Hughes coming over from Ireland for Barnaby, Tom Doughty confirming a couple of dates. Also, hopefully, we shall be having Peter Price playing soon. Fingers crossed. Keep an eye on our events page for up comings and confirmed gigs. I’ll try to get some of the rumours into the blog too.

Now where would a pub be without beer! We have had a great run of ales lately with Magic Rock and Marble both dropping plenty. We have now changed our keg line to Magic Rock Magic 8 Ball black IPA. Very interesting and different. The casks are updated regularly in the Our Casks page. One thing that has popped up is a problem with one of our wholesalers who provide us with Otter Bitter from Honiton, and their lack of ability to maintain stock levels. We have a meeting tomorrow with the rep to try and sort it out. If not, we shall be looking for another session bitter. Its a shame, but my hand has been forced.

Well there we go, a little update. Should be getting another one soon.

Chris

Blues, Belgian Beer and Beerbikes

Chris — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 15:23:39 +0000

It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m sat behind the bar with my normal eclectic mix of audio stimulation. Its been a pretty manic few days really. The good news is that I seem to be making a chip into the mountainous pile of jobs that I have been putting off. The back garden is now separated with a fence that myself and the dad-in-law put up. Really helps tidy the area up. Next week there’ll be more planting going in and hopefully, some new benches too.
Another job I managed to complete this week is to get my beer bike finished. New white wall tyres and inner tubes, a little fettle to the Sturmey Archer hub, and a tweak of the brakes and it’s a runner. First proper trip out on Thursday to The Macc and then to The Waters Green Tavern. A couple of pints with mates and a pleasant ride back. Exactly what a warm spring evening and a push bike is for. The Iron Donkey fulfilled the role perfectly.
Laura, our Friday night bar girl, has done a sterling job on our new Beer menu. It is now printed and available to view in the pub. Already proving a talking point and seemingly attracted more customers in. Last night I had the opportunity to open a couple of bottles for some customers to try. We opened Faithless XI from RedWillow and Rochefort 10, both of which went down wonderfully and got some cracking feedback. The winner of the two was surprisingly RedWillow Faithless XI which had a complexity, taste and mouthfeel that shames many more known craft beers. A true delight of a beer.
Last night also brought a new band to The Wharf. Married In Vegas are normally a four piece upbeat blues and rock band with a couple of local lads and a couple from Stockport. However, last night they had lost their drummer through unexpected circumstances. So what does a rocky blues band do with no drummer?! A decision saw the trio drop into a lovely acoustic set-up, playing mainly off-cuff and improvising around some rehearsed tracks and some numbers they normally play as a full band. It worked a treat and the response from the crowd was great. We have rebooked them, as a three-piece, for later in the spring.
Last point to mention is The Wharf pool team. We started the season off pretty badly with a 5-2 defeat at The Weston but then bounced back to a 5-2 win at home against The Queens B-Team. A good midweek night for us all, and Sy and myself on 2 wins each so far.
Well thats that really. Party tonight for one of my locals, football on tomorrow daytime.
See you all soon,
Chris