Very recently, as those of you may have noticed on my Twitter feed, a lot of my time has been spent down at my local pub. Work obligations, work experience, lectures, seminars and essays are still being achieved. Just that any time I regard as spare is spent around the corner in a pub called St Paul’s Tavern.
The pub until a few months ago was notoriously regarded as one of the rougher pubs in Cheltenham. Better described as a brothel, drug den and sprinkled with all the vice heavy drinking can lead to. Even being near to the pub at night would bring great distress to passing residents. Eventually the pub was closed down after having received countless shiny warnings and ASBOs.
Since then the pub has taken over new ownership. Any chavs (a word which is thought to have derived from Cheltenham’s Ladies College/Cheltenham College to mean ‘Cheltenham average’) have been bailed out and to this very day are still being arrested for being disorderly around the pub.
So where am I going with this article? Quite simply this is a local story about how one pub has built up new business, thus changed its image and beginning to thrive. It all began when one of my friends moved into his house opposite the pub. Clearly he had to try the pub and as I only live around the corner this was opportune for me as well.
We liked the pub. As a big fan of real ales the pub instantly took my fancy with their offerings of Fire Fly and Yellow Hammer. The bar staff are extremely friendly, personable and one girl is even doing the same Philosophy module as me. These pleasant impressions caused us to invite two more of our friends.
For the following two weeks a network of our friends visited the pub. One evening, by pure chance really, we all arrived at the pub at the same time. The pub on the Saturday evening is usually quiet. However this particular evening there were at least 30 of us all buying and socialising.
Near the end of the evening the barman/boss beckoned towards me and my friend. We stood in the corner, away from our friends and at first I was worried. Wondered if something had gone wrong, some mistake had occurred. There was a smile upon his face though and he asked us calmly, neutrally,
“Are these all your friends?”
“Yes, well, they all came by chance really” I replied.
He smiled and gave us both a shot of St Paul’s Passion, an originally created, refreshing drink which looks a bit like Tequila Sunrise.
At the end of the evening I had my last smoke for the evening outside. This is when the landlady informed me that all day they had been pestered by the local chavs. A window had almost been broken; a five year old boy almost went to hospital and the police made a few arrests. Hope was almost lost for restarting the pub business again, that evening all our friends gave the pub hope again.
Spoken word is the most powerful method of raising awareness, it serves as the foundation of Public Relations and I have just witnesses it in full force. Spoken word alone has the potential to change the image of St Paul’s Tavern and it is paid only through friendliness, kindness and free shots.
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