Monday, 12 March 2012

Travel sickness

Here’s a sad picture taken yesterday of the closed and boarded Traveller’s Rest in Runcorn, better known locally as “The Tup”. A former Greenall’s pub, it’s a handsome brick building with sandstone mullions, by the look of it dating from the Edwardian period or the 1920s. It’s in a leafy setting at one of the highest points in the town, commanding impressive views. Although approached by its own driveway, it’s within easy walking distance of some quite salubrious residential areas (yes, there are, even in Runcorn). At one time it was unquestionably the smartest pub in the town, but sadly no longer. If you think you could make a go of it, it’s yours freehold for £175,000.

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16 comments:

  1. Cooking Lager12 March 2012 at 11:11

    Looks like a right dump. Fingers crossed for a Tesco Express, eh?

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  2. Curmudgeon12 March 2012 at 11:52

    Everywhere looks like a right dump when it's been closed and boarded for some time.

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  3. Anonymous12 March 2012 at 12:55

    You've been on the roll lately mate, keep it coming.

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  4. Sat In A Pub12 March 2012 at 14:03

    Should have took the sat dihes with them.

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  5. Saga Of Nails12 March 2012 at 15:05

    I wish I had the money to take that on. It looks like it could be lovely, and maybe make a mint. Mind, I don't know what Runcorn is like, but 175k is nothing for a building of that size. So it's a pub that could easily take 6k a week, with a 3 bed flat above ?

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  6. Curmudgeon12 March 2012 at 15:11

    It's a nice spot, but to be honest there are hundreds of pubs like that up and down the country. If you want to have a nose around, the Google Maps link is here.

    Runcorn is a northern industrial town, but far less run-down than many, and some of the best owner-occupied housing is near to the pub.

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  7. Saga Of Nails12 March 2012 at 16:37

    I'm living in Bristol where pubs a third of the size with no garden, are selling for more than that, so anything like that looks good to me. Alas I have no spare money, and won't have until I get my pub properly working. In Bristol Freehouses are very rare, so tend to sell for a lot. And the sensible people make them work well.

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  8. Curmudgeon12 March 2012 at 16:58

    I'm not hugely familiar with the Bristol region, but I'd bet that I could find similarly closed pubs in small towns and commuter areas within a 15-mile radius of the city centre.

    Central Bristol and the Clifton area are a big magnet for nightlife and also home to a lot of students and a substantial middle-class arts/professional population, all of which provides much better conditions for pubs to thrive in the current environment.

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  9. Curmudgeon12 March 2012 at 17:01

    Incidentally, Saga, if this is your website, it doesn't seem to work:

    www.bagonails.110mb.com

    That comes top of the Google rankings, so if not yours you could do with a new one.

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  10. Saga Of Nails12 March 2012 at 18:34

    Oh, it's down. Thanks for pointing that out. It's the old website which is not mine, but re-directs to my blog which is the acting website currently. I'll ask Cyril to get that sorted. Thanks again.
    I agree, near the centre of a city such as Bristol, we don't struggle anywhere near as much as a lot of parts. Lots of annoying students, and a good mix of people, and lots of chimney pots within a few miles. Plus being near the centre people are used to travelling into town. Personally I would find it much harder to run a pub in a much smaller place. In a city you can choose to specialise a lot more, as I have done.
    Just to compare prices, the Plume of Feathers was recently sold for 200k. Small pub, busy road, no garden, pretty small flat above and has repeatedly failed over the last ten years, (12+ landlords) partially due to it being opposite the Mardyke, which is much, much cheaper than JDW's. Prices here do get silly.

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  11. Bill12 March 2012 at 19:21

    Looks ripe for a Brunning & Price makeover. BTW, is that another boarded-up pub down the road at the junction of Highlands Rd and Weston Rd?

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  12. Curmudgeon12 March 2012 at 19:25

    Looks ripe for a Brunning & Price makeover.

    Not in Runcorn!

    BTW, is that another boarded-up pub down the road at the junction of Highlands Rd and Weston Rd?

    No, it's actually a former post office.

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  13. Bill12 March 2012 at 19:59

    Not in Runcorn? Don't know the place but per Streetview the area looks reasonably well-heeled. They've got one in Warrington! Their website invites suggestions for new acquisitions with a payout of £5K if they take it up so I've just suggested it. Will keep you informed!

    Ex-post office, eh? Another community resource lost. Shame.

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  14. Martin, Cambridge13 March 2012 at 17:47

    As you mention, there's some very solid and attractive housing in parts of Runcorn particularly around that large park, and at least one very good traditional pub on Weston Road. Not really gstro-pub territory though.

    Runcorn lacks a busy town centre like Warrington that can support a specialist beer pub, but I'm surprised Weston can't manage more real ale-based locals.

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  15. Curmudgeon13 March 2012 at 18:02

    There are two small street-corner pubs still open in Weston Village, but I doubt whether either serves real ale. Sadly the old town centre of Runcorn is very run down now, with a number of closed pubs such as this one. There is a Spoons, though.

    I'm sure B & P have looked for pubs in the general triangle between Chester, Warrington and Northwich where there would be the catchment area to support one.

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  16. Anonymous19 April 2014 at 05:39

    This has been bought and being converted into a house. I remember when this was a thriving pub, back in the days before the drink drive laws. As it's one of those hard to get to places unless you have a car, business was killed when you had to watch how much you drank. Today of course is even harder for anyone to make a living from a pub, unless you can offer something very special and which local people want, as it's regular local trade that feeds the landlord.

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