Please first let me apologise for the lateness of this Newsletter and for not producing one for May, things have been so busy here at The Poacher which I suppose is no bad thing!
So the tenancy agreement is now signed so I am looking forward to the next five years in Elsworth and hopefully longer, I must thank everyone for their huge support and making it a very easy decision to complete the deal, the pub is looking great with the garden finally fully open with beautiful Flower baskets, tubs and boxes all taking shape and making The Poacher look absolutely stunning, in fact we have been entered in a ‘Pub in Bloom’ Competition. I must say a big thank you to Rob for all his hard work on the garden, he is from the village and I would highly recommend him.
So June is here and it is a real mix of things at The Poacher with a wonderful new Summer Menu now available, Euro 2016 in full effect, Pub Quiz and a Theme Night all happening. Our latest theme night was a huge success with our wonderful chef Gary Illife producing a stunning South American Menu that went down a storm, a full pub enjoyed some great dishes and the Brazilian Lemonade was gorgeous. Saturday 9th July will be our next theme night and it will be Indian Cuisine, so book now to avoid disappointment.
What can we say about May’s Quiz Night? Over 70 people in the pub with 11 teams taking part in our ‘Food & Drink Quiz’ with Wine Tasting, ‘The Picnickers’ were the well-deserved winners and the £90 Killer Question Pot went to Sarah-Jayne and her team, it was a fantastic and very busy evening with benches being brought in from the garden! Saturday 25th June see’s the ‘Big Summer Quiz’ so once again book your table now to ensure you are not on a bench!!!!
Our new ‘Summer Menu’ is now available with some great new dishes, due to our close work with our suppliers we are very proud of how much Local or English produce we are now using with a huge focus on Seasonality. We will only use ‘in season’ Fruit and Vegetables in our menu and we must thank Fisher & Woods from Saffron Walden for all their help with sourcing and supplying. Highgate Butchers at Willingham must also get a mention with Kevin, their Master Butcher once again working very closely with us to the point that we now have our very own ‘Poacher Horseshoe Ploughman’s Sausage’ on the menu, and it is absolutely delicious!!! Just a reminder that our Sunday Roasts are hugely popular and June 19th is Father’s Day, booking is essential for Sunday afternoons as we are now full most weeks.
Through-out June Euro 2016 will be in full swing, we will be showing all the games (not always with the sound on) and will focus on England and the Home Nations. We will also be running some European Cuisine Events running in line with some of the matches. England’s Group B games are against Russia on Saturday 11th June, 8pm Kick Off, then Thursday 16th at 2pm see’s England take on Wales and the final group match is against Slovakia on Monday 20th, once again 8pm Kick off. The Final is on Sunday 10th July, let’s hope England can go all the way.
Finally, this month can I just remind everyone to book tables whenever possible if you would like to eat with us at The Poacher, we are so pleased to be as busy as we are and hate turning people away, as I am sure you are aware we do have a very small kitchen so try to stagger the orders for your benefit. We have had occasions recently where quite large groups have turned up and we have just not been able to look after them in the way we would wish to, every patron is important to me and my team and we always like to give the highest standards possible. Booking a table really does help especially with the Summer now hopefully upon us.
So there we have it for this month, once again as always a huge thank you for all your support and kind words, I am absolutely loving Elsworth and becoming part of the village. Good luck to the cricket team for the season (we are pleased to be doing the Saturday Tea’s) and may I also point you to the last Monday of every month here at The Poacher, Tim and Helen hold a wonderful Folk Music evening with songs and poetry. It really is a fun, enjoyable evening and it would be great to see more people here for it.