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As rising costs clash with underpriced supermarket booze and overpriced mail order wine and beer clubs, it’s become a pretty depressing time to run a pub.
And when those landlords and ladies — the pillars of the community who have spent years politely nodding along as you bragged about your good news and moaned about all that life’s flung at you — need us most, it seems Joe General Public would rather sit on his couch, stare at a screen and fall out with strangers about Gary Neville than have a laugh with his actual mates down the local.
“You’re joking, not another one,” I cry out, sounding like that now-famous clip of the old dear on BBC when she’s told one more General Election has been called, every time I read about another pub calling time.
But occasionally there’s a bit of good news as a brave soul decides it’s time to buck the trend and make a real good go of a good pub.
The Royal Mail Cart is one such story that has me rooting for the the new team at the boozer to make a success of their new venture.
Just a matter of months after the Mail Cart shut its door local man Padraig Hughes and former general manager Sarah Cox got their heads together and decided to re-open the popular Spalding spot, promising to hit the right note with open mics, song contests, live entertainment, karaoke and musical bingo.
With true Secret Drinker timing, the party was yet to get started when I turned up for a pint, but a guitar and mic in the corner hinted at livelier times ahead.
It was early evening with the sun setting when I pulled into the car park, stunned to see a beautiful bowls green round the back, just feet away from one row of benches which form an outdoor drinking area.
Just my luck, I thought. Too early for a sing song and too late to get my balls out.
The main bar had seven or eight punters in already, the post-work crowd and those who like to get in early, chatting away with a man I presumed to be Padraig, who was holding court at the pumps which offered some old favourites including John Smith’s, Neck Oil, Cruzcampo, Inch’s, Moretti and Guinness.
If a pub labels itself as a music venue it’s instantly putting a little extra pressure on itself to deliver good quality background music. And there were no complaints from me as a mixture of Bobby Darin’s Somewhere Beyond The Sea and some Doo Wop classics set the tone.
It’s been a number of years since I was last in the Mail Cart and the place was totally unrecognisable from before, but big screens and a darts board ensured that there was a good old community pub feel.
The lights were off in the yet-to-open dining room but the lounge very much lived up to its name, with brown sofas and bucket seats facing in towards a fireplace.
This open seating arrangement was a lot more communal than your average rows of tables where groups sit with their backs to one another and, although empty when I took my seat, I hoped it could open up a little dialogue when full.
Just as long as some do-gooder doesn’t decide we need to go round in a circle and each say a little bit about ourselves it’s fine by me.
In a part of Spalding where there seems to be a lot of houses going up but there is very little by the way of pub and restaurant offerings I hope the Mail Cart team can make a good go of it.
Now put your phone down, stop getting your knickers in a twist over the opinions of someone you’ll never meet and get your mates to join you for a drink and support your local boozer, no matter where you live.
THE ROYAL MAIL CART, PINCHBECK ROAD, SPALDING, PE11 1QL
DECOR: The main bar felt very much like a good old fashioned local set up for a lively night, while the lounge — with its inward looking seats — could have been someone’s living room or a therapy retreat. 3/5
DRINK: I went for a pint of John Smith’s. ‘Ave it! 3/5
PRICE: I paid £9.60 for a pint of John Smith’s and a Neck Oil. Not bad. 3/5
ATMOSPHERE: It wasn’t peak time by any means but people were having a laugh. 3/5
STAFF: No complaints about the welcome or service. 3/5
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Do you agree with the secret drinker or have any suggestions where he should go next? Email secretdrinker@lincsonline.co.uk or comment below.
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