Another One Bites The Dust?

I have not revisited the Samuel Smith empire for some time, but my attention was drawn to them again by an email from a Sam Smiths regular near Blackpool. In particular informing me to the plight of yet another of the brewing empires formerly popular (and apparently once thriving) pubs ...

The Victoria Hotel In Cleveleys Near Blackpool

.... The Victoria Hotel in Cleveleys, near Blackpool. Which according to the informant (who requested no name, or even a hint), has seemingly fallen on some harder times since the Covid lockdowns, when according to the email, recovery for this pub was slow.

It is from the pictures on the web, a seemingly great big barn of a Samuel Smith's owned pub, with a large lounge in one wing, and a smaller vault in another wing. I was informed that its real glory days were in the 60's and 70's, when it regularly hosted live music and other entertainments, but that even up until 2012, it still had a steady crowd.

This popularity apparently fell away in the last decade, as brewery decisions about No music, No TV's, No slot machines, No extensions, No dogs, No bikers, No children, took their toll. But I was informed that it was still fairly busy, with a loyal weekend core of regulars right up to 2020, before Covid struck.

Then just prior to, and immediately post the Covid lockdowns, another set of brewery decisions meant that there was no choice of bitters anymore, no phones or tablets, no tote, and then a 50% price hike across the board when the pub re-opened, and finally, a no standing at the bar decree, leaving its customer footfall greatly reduced from the pre-Covid days, as customers voted with their feet and left.   

All this under the charge of brewery owner Humphrey Smith, who took over the additional role of  northern regional manager in 2012, and of whom we have written much of on this blog (hence the contact from the concerned Vic regular). The email writer contacted me after this pub potentially finally called last orders on Tuesday the 1st of August 2023, and has not reopened since.

Victoria Hotel Is Still Closed

Apparently the last landlord had handed in his notice, and left for pastures new (outside the hospitality industry), and as of the 25th of October 2023 when I reviewed this posts content, it still has not reopened (according to google), this despite the owners Samuel Smith, of Tadcaster, Yorkshire, saying that the closure was not permanent, and that it was seeking a new manager couple to take it over.

Tadcaster Brewery Contact Methods

Now I actually was going to contact the brewery, to see if this pub was definitely going to reopen soon and even if a date was known, but they don't have contact emails, nor do they really deal with press/media or pub customer contacts (only sales by email or phone), all other matters/general enquiries by postal letter only .... which I guess is very Samuel Smiths.

There therefore seems to be a distinct possibility that this particular pub will either not reopen again, as any would be landlords are apparently thin on the ground. Or then again, that Mr Smith may have simply have changed his mind, and has decided to keep it closed, as he is rumoured to have done with so many other of his pubs. 

Even if it does eventually reopen, it may not stay open long, as there's always a possibility that the old regular customers, are not all going to flock back in to the pub if it reopens ..... twelve weeks plus, is a long time to be closed for a pub, and people will have got used to other establishments, and to being in a Cleveleys apparently well served with other pubs, with rumours of more opening in the near future.

So it was interesting to see the views on this pubs current closure aired in a local paper, from former musician, and the former leader of the Conservative group on Blackpool Council, Tony Williams. He was apparently a member of one of the most popular local bands in the 60's 'Treacle,' (name means nothing to me .... I guess you have to be of a certain age and a local), who reportedly had a long residency at the Vic hotel, playing six evenings a week in the main bar, where they even had drag acts on (obviously pre-Mr H Smith).

Mr Williams who in later years formed Stealers Wheel with Gerry Rafferty, and then went on to join Jethro Tull, said that he spent many years performing in pubs across Cleveleys, including the Vic hotel, as both a guitarist and bass player. As a drinker and former musician, he said he was dismayed with the changes brought in at The Vic hotel by the current brewery owner over the last few years.

“It meant there was no TV, no mobile phones, no background music, no laptops, no standing at the bar, no live entertainment, no dogs and putting the price of a pint up by £1. It was not exactly a 'fun' pub!”

These were all decisions made by the idiosyncratic owner Mr Humphrey Smith, as part of his “uncompromisingly Victorian” ethos, and are said by locals to be the reasons why the pub was allegedly struggling to attract more customers before the current closure. A Samuel Smiths brewery source, recently confirmed once again, that although the pub had closed “It hasn’t closed permanently – we are still looking for a new manager to run it.”

The no TV or music bans don't stop any Wetherspoon's being full, so it has to be the owners 'special rules' that make the pubs unattractive to potential managers. Pubs such as the Victoria Hotel in Cleveleys (from Google maps, its at the end of a long road with a lot of other bars), have to rely on being popular and or retaining their regulars. Something I believe was shattered in the case of this particular pub when it reopened after the first Covid lockdown. 

The 50% price hike apparently meant people who had travelled to the pub to meet friends, no longer found it financially viable or particularly attractive to do so, while locally, the price hike meant it no longer had a price edge over other bars, and so lost that trade advantage as well ... which meant other factors such as standing at the bar, mobile phones, TV, music or dogs etc came back into play.

According to the last local press report I could find, dated the 4th of October, Sam Smiths Brewery are still intending to reopen this particular pub and oddly, given the fact that they don't do email, applicants can apply on-line.

...... So watch this space!

Update 01/10/2024: Well we watched, and watched, and this space has not been active. In other words as of the 1st of October 2024, that pub is still listed as temporarily closed on Google. I personally think that's the end of this particular story, although the local press state that the brewery haven't given up trying to find a couple to run it again, and indeed I found an advert in Gumtree for the position, which was still active as of this update. So perhaps hope for those in that area who long for it to reopen again.