The Gamekeeper in Old Buckenham

A message from Tony and Jen

Hi Old Buckenham, we have been asked by Ron (the village newsletter and blog editor) to drop you a line and bring you up to date with what is happening at The Gamekeeper. So here it is.

You will no doubt have heard the rumours that we are leaving The Gamekeeper. The reason for writing this is not just to confirm that rumour but also, as you know, rumours lead to gossip and with gossip there is always a victim who gets hurt. So, to prevent this we would like to outline the motivation behind our decision.

The fact is there is not currently enough business in The Gamekeeper. In an effort to keep the overheads down we are each working 80 hours per week and that is not sustainable. We could employ more people but the revenue can’t afford it, we are just working to pay the VAT. If the government would see sense and reduce the VAT on food sold in a pub, in line with the supermarkets, then a lot more country pubs like ours (yours) would survive. It’s our belief that in 10 years’ time there will be no country pubs as a result of this and business rates. We also have tried to get people to understand that The Gamekeeper’s history of being a restaurant is no longer valid, instead it is “A PUB that serves food” but unfortunately this has not been the perception.

We also understand that some of you will be very critical of Ei Group (you know them as Enterprise). Well we would like to put this straight. As with all organisations it’s the person who is your first point of contact that sets the standard and Adam has been very fair with us as over the past 6 months our rent has been significantly reduced in an effort to keep this pub going.

So, the only thing for us to do sadly is to move on and make way for another publican with more energy than we have, with more backing and hopefully more support from the local people. Ei are currently recruiting and, to our knowledge, there is at least one couple in the frame and producing their business plan.

Sadly, but with some relief, we say bye to Old Buckenham. Our contract termination date is Tuesday 16 April so this will be our last day but if the new publican is ready before then it could be sooner. That would be better for them as to take over one week before Easter could be difficult.

All that remains is for us thank the lovely people that have supported us and to wish you all well.

Tony & Jen