The Waterbeach White Horse is the pub at the hub of our community. We need to let Greene King know how much we value our landlady - Julia Lemin (Jools) - and how much we feel she gives to the village and the groups in the village.
Please post comments about how you feel the pub is useful to you and your community/groups. All stories/comments welcome!
We have four weeks....
Cressi
As Chair of the Waterbeach PTA - I would like to thank Jools for her help and community spirit. We now have a cafe open in her pub three mornings a week, where parents can meet and chat.
ReplyDeleteIn the holidays, she's opened up for once a week play sessions, giving parents somewhere free to come with children from 0-12.
At our every event, she has helped us promote it, and been involved, sometimes donating prizes for raffles, sometimes putting up posters.
The village would be a poorer place without this level of community support.
Cressi Downing
PTA Chair
Waterbeach PTA
I support Cressi Downing's comments. Since Jools took over, the pub has become a thriving family friendly hub in the village. The outside space, transformed by her, is particularly valued. Jools has actively supported village charities helping them to raise thousands of pounds for the good of the children in the village though auctions, raffles etc.
ReplyDeleteThe pub serves excellent real ale and Jools takes the quality of her beer very seriously. As a real ale fan and CAMRA member I can vouch for this. It is a pity many other Greene King landlords do not match her high standards.
With cheap booze readily available just a few feet from the door, the pub needs someone like Jools with the drive and determination to keep it a thriving business and stop it becoming another statistic in the trend for village pub closures.
The Greene King Pub chain should be thanking Jools for generating such good business for them not punishing her by milking more money from her. Greene King are threatening a valuable in our community and may well lose money themselves if they do not resolve this situation in a way that will enable Jools to continue to operate there as a financially viable business.
I wish this campaign every success.
Christine Taylor
Village resident
Before Jools (Julia Lemin) took over the White Horse, I was not a pub-goer. Now I find myself at the White Horse almost every day!
ReplyDeleteCoffee, Hot Chocolate, Tea, Cakes & Gossip on a Monday, Wednesday & Friday morning whilst the kids are at School. Lunch on a Tuesday or Thursday while our Toddlers play. Pub Quiz on a Tuesday night. Thai Meals on a Friday & Saturday. Drinks in the Beer Garden while the kids play on a Saturday afternoon. Lunch on a Sunday afternoon when the grandparents are visiting. Offers on kids meals, activities for the kids, and a place to catch up with your friends during the school holidays. And sometimes even a welcome haven for the kids to play in the Beer Garden after school if they are feeling more energetic than I can handle at home!
The White Horse, with Jools' beaming smile & fantastic home cooking - such a rarity at pubs these days - is always my first choice when someone suggests eating out.
As a member of the Waterbeach Toddler Playgroup Committee for the past 4 years, Jools has supported us unconditionally. Hosting "New parent mixers", our annual Auction of Promises (and always giving a prize or 2 aswell), and many an impromptu organisational or fundraising meeting at the Black Bean Cafe.
The Facebook group "White Horse Waterbeach Friends" lets us know the wide variety of activities that Jools has planned, and we in turn can feed back to her on decisions and events.
Jools running the White Horse is an integral part of community, I honestly feel as though the whole village would suffer (as would the takings at the pub) if she were not at the helm.
Holli Bielby
Village Resident & Friend of the White Horse Pub
Disappointed to hear Greene King are revoking their original agreement, and penalising Jools for all her efforts since she took over The White Horse. There is not a pub like it I can think of in the Cambridge area, of the people I know who have left the village, what they miss most apart from friends is THE WHITE HORSE, and that is down to Jools and her staff. I would not drink in the pub before she took it over, however she has made it accessible to me as a Mum just with my kids giving me the opportunity to meet other Mum’s (I wouldn’t have met 2 of my best friends) as a family and as an individual on a night out. Jools is loved and respected by all, and she serves the community as a whole. Jools is the reason The White Horse is as successful as it is through hard work, innovation and a warm welcome, don’t be fooled Greene King that The White Horse will continue its success without Jools at the helm.
ReplyDeleteThe White Horse is everything that a village pub should be. I am lucky enough to live just a couple of doors down from the pub and Jools has welcomed me in to use the pub for business meetings which has been invaluable as I work from home. I am member of the local church, St John's, and a couple of years ago we started meeting regularly in the pub and have always been made very welcome. For some of the older members of the church-going community who have lived in the village all their lives this was the first time they had ever felt comfortable going into one of the pubs in Waterbeach! I love to meet friends there, go for a quiet drink with my husband or have a meal. Just this morning I was talking to a friend on the phone and saying how much I am looking forward to taking my new baby along to the pub coffee mornings when s/he arrives in October, and to taking him/her to play in the fantastic playground when s/he gets a bit bigger. My dog loves the pub too. I don't know what we would do without Jools and the White Horse - it would be a huge loss to our village and all the members of our community.
ReplyDeleteJools is an outstanding landlady, it would be an absolute travesty if she is forced out by unfair business practice from Greene King. Over the last few years Jools has made a huge contribution to the Waterbeach community with her commitment and foresight. The pub under her management is the hub of our community. It provides a vast range of facilities and very warm welcome to people of all ages and acts as a vital gathering place for families with its morning Cafe. We must do all we can to get Greene King to reconsider their terms in order that all the investment that has been made is not lost in one short-sighted bureaucratic move.
ReplyDeleteSimply, The White Horse to me and my family, means somewhere friendly and safe to go, to meet with friends, eat great food,and even come last in a pub quiz without feeling ashamed!!!!
ReplyDeleteI would feel absolutely devastated if all this changed, Jools and her pub are a community, and this village will suffer greatly if she is forced out.
My husband and I lived in Waterbeach for the past 13 years and our daughter was born there 5 years ago. We started drinking in the White Horse once Jools took over, especially once our daughter arrived! The pub is such a lovely friendly, family orientated place to be able to go and relax in. We were frequent visitors most weekends,both in summer enjoying the beautiful garden with play area and also in Winter enjoying Jools,s delicious home cooked food, log fire and great atmosphere, always seeing friendly faces.
ReplyDeleteWe made our best friends in the garden one summer whilst our children were playing.I also enjoyed working with Jools in the cafe.
Since moving to Australia 2 months ago I really miss the White Horse and am looking forward to going back and seeing Jools!!!!
The White Horse has always been a good pub Jool's has made it a great one with some really good ideas like the morning teas etc.
ReplyDeleteIn hard times like this Brewery's should be supporting tennents not squeezing till the pips squeak.
If Jool's goes so do I, and if the rest of us boycott it the White horse will be off to the knackers yard!!!!!
Good luck Jools shame on you green king
I think it will be a great loss to the community and to the pub itself if we lose Jools because I certainly won't come to the pub unless she runs the cafe, and I'm sure a lot of other moms will feel the same way.
ReplyDelete