mercuryg

I speak from a personal level mate! Yes, young Danni is an asset to the Lion. Absolutely, couldn't agree more.

The ones that made it worthwhile are no longer there!

This is something I have raised with the - very pleasant - management. It seems to take just as long to get served when the place is empty as it does when it is packed; I'm at odds to explain it to be honest, although must say it is somewhat improved now over before.

It's not, I must say, me that's looking at this proposal but a friend, and she is pretty far advanced in her plans. Watch this space.

As one of the fiercest pre-opening critics of our much loved Red Lion Wetherspoons I thought it about time to revisit the subject. Now that the dust has settled and things have become more routine I have to confess, wholeheartedly, to being converted. The Red Lion (use the name please, that's what it is) is clean, tidy, staffed by pleasant people (the initial policy of employing everyone and weeding out the chaff has worked, it would seem) and is an altogether comfortable place to be. I speak, I must say, as someone who frequents the place in the late afternoon and early evening, so have no idea what it is like on weekend evenings. While not entirely convinced of the value or quality of the food I can say the beer is always on the mark, and if it's not there are no complaints about changing it for you. A pint of Ruddles best at £1.55 simply can't be beaten. I still support my local landlords/landlady's when I can (although one such has not enamoured herself to me of late with her attitude, and has lost a lot of my custom as a result) and see Wetherspoons as a corporate monster intent on killing the local pub trade, but cannot faulty the provision of free wi-fi access, good beer and a pleasant atmosphere thus providing me with what must be the biggest and most convenient office in the world. If you see a grey haired bloke with a laptop working away at between three and five on a weekday afternoon it's me.

Dear All, A simple question: would you, or your wives/mothers/family members, use a shop along the lines of the late lamented 'Spend n Save' (aka '!*!@# Hat') if one were to be opened in Bedlington? I mean, where can you buy a washing line these days? regards Everyone's Friend MercG

Cats are problematic when it comes to birds in the garden. I have three who all hunt - rodents usually - but my previous cat, a large tabby tom, would routinely bring me rodents, snakes, stoats or whatever from the woods but would ignore birds entirely. I used to watch him sitting next to a flock of starlings with a complete lack of interest.

My cat celebrated it by bringing one home.

And I thought you were talking about The Sun.......

How, pray, does a piano repair shop exist there? I mean, it's not as if the town has a surfeit of Baby Grands needing fixing.....

Indeed, I got the joke. My response wasn't an attempt at stirring, however, but a genuine challenge. It amuses me when people bang on about how 'unethical' it is to wear fur while happily sitting down to feast on bits of animals raised specifically so we can kill them to eat.

You reckon otherwise? Here's a challenge for you; without resorting to the very modern and rather twee conception of wearing fur being 'bad' that has been foisted on us by people who want us not to have our own opinions, can you tell me why wearing a fox fur hat is any more controversial than eating a lamb chop?

I think you'll find 'the Royals' are paying towards it. I'm no monarchist but I have great respect for the Queen, who must be the most dignified and respected figurehead of any country these days. She carries out what must be a pain in the !*!@# of a job very well and certainly sets an example. On that note, a little story: many years ago, when I lived in Cheshire, some friends of I decided for a laugh to attend a major Horse Trials even that was taking place at a country park nearby. We spent a goodly proportion of the event in the beer tent, naturally, then went out to watch the action. I was standing at the rails and professed to not having a clue what was going on; a well to do lady behind me stepped forward and began explaining the points system, the faults and all that, and gave us good insight into horsemanship and so on. In fact, she talked to us young lads for a botu half an hour before being called away, and she was utterly charming and, it must be said, a great laugh. It was only after she'd left that one of my friends pointed out it was the Princess Royal, Princess Anne. Great girl, welcome for a pint with me anytime.

No accusations; came from a very well informed source... It was always inevitable; any new place opening will experience the same. When you put the toilets with doors out of the view of the bar staff you're offering an invitation.

Of course we haven't all got the same taste; your preference for the bar at which the local drug dealers have chosen to do their business - nicely tucked away upstairs and out of sight - is your prerogative! I prefer a pub where I know the regulars!

You're saying I should put my house on a gee gee called Red Trout?

I have to agree with supporting the local shops and think Tesco is a blight on the town. Odd, though, how people are not so quick to support the local pubs and seem eager to flock to the new mighty all powerful superstore of pubs that has opened at the top of the street.....

Further to the recent discussion about the Gardener's I was party to an argument in the Grapes yesterday regarding the Tankerville Arms. Know where it was and all that, and have viewed the pics on here, but the questions I have been asked to find the answers for are a) when did it finally close and when was it knocked down/destroyed? Hoping there are some kindly folk with good memories!

Couldn't resist it mate.

It is frightfully tatty, but I agree, it's a good result. Diane has a talent for picking great staff. She ought to keep her car keys in a safe place though.....

That's cos nobody likes you where you live. Seriously, though, it's not that good that i would travel to eat there. If anywhere is going to benefit I would guess it's going to be the place next door. The Grapes and Sun haven't changed, and the Tavern has just chopped its daytime hours. Mind you, nobody ever went in there in the day anyway. One good thing to come out of all this is that the brewery have bowed to the pressur eof competition and are giving the Grapes a full make-over in the new year.

That's precisely what I believe is happening. I must say, however, that it's not as if food hasn't been available in Bedlington before the Lion opened. What I'm saying is that the clientele in there are not 'drinkers'. We who like to sup regularly are not the ones who cause trouble. We also like somewhere with a bit of character, a regular clientele, where we can amble at the bar and natter away to our hearts delight. The Lion is pretty and nicely done, but it doesn't offer me any of that. I've been in for a burger, had a few pints there on my travels, and like it very much, but I'm very happy to see that the pubs down the street are not losing their regular trade. Contrary to what many believed, they are not gaining any either.

I doubt it. I think they're people who simply haven't been going out for a drink in Bedlington, going there to see what all the fuss is about. It's a pleasant place, without a doubt, but I can se no attraction in travelling there from the surrounding towns.

I don't think there were (are) many who are insistent on causing trouble, just a number of people who over indulge on cheap booze. That's what happens when you sell it at those prices, and it will continue that way. To be honest, most of those in there on Friday and Saturdays are not people I recognise, so I have no idea where they came from!

Apart from the moveable wing, the rest of the above doesn't come into play until 2013; next two years will still be V8's. You missed the most important change - the team orders ban is scrapped. That's nothing. In 1986 a 1.5ltr BMW in-line four cylinder engine in the Bennetton of Gerhard Berger registered a flash reading of 5.5bar during qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. There was no dynamometer available that could measure beyond 1000bhp, which these engines were routinely topping, but engine builder Heine Mader calculated that 5.5bar was between 1300 and 1400bhp. See www.updatef1.com for all the latest F1 news, views and some wonderful editorial.....