Jo and I would like to say thank you for the  kind wishes and support that the people of Upton have shown towards us since our taking over the George and Dragon. We have made some changes and plan to make a few more along the way. One of the changes that we have made is to the fence in the pub garden. I am sure you will all agree that this was well overdue. A new wooden fence with a secure gate was installed last week to divide the Garden area from the Aunt Sally area, as well as to prevent small children from running around in the car park.

Another change you would have noticed is that the pool table has been re located to the patio area outside. The old pool room has been re fitted to allocate more dining tables in order to use as an overflow as and when required. This room will also be available for small private parties.

The 27th July is Jo’s birthday, we will be have a birthday party for her at the pub, a full Pilipino buffet will be provided, so feel free to come along and celebrate with us.

On the 30th of August (Bank Holiday Monday)  Pig Roast all day as well as our full menu will be available there will also be live music from 4 pm

Wednesday Mid-week Roast

Roast Dinner and a Dessert £10.00 - Bookings Available

See you at the Pub

Kenny and Jo

We would like to say a big hello to everyone in Upton Village and to say how welcome we have been made to feel in settling in at the pub. Since taking over the pub we have had the pleasure of meeting new friends as well as catching up with old friends as well.

Although we have made some changes to the pub we hope that they are to the liking of the village residents. One of our major changes has been to our opening hours and menu. We are now open every day of the week from noon till 11pm serving food until 9pm. Our menu consists of traditional home cooked pub food, which is freshly prepared by our resident chef.

We are now making plans to organise a pub football team to play on Sunday’s our team will be called "The Gorge and Dragon", we are hoping to grow the team over the coming months in order for the start of the 2010/11 season. We already have commitment from Ian Concannon who you might already know from Upton. Ian was a former player for Oxford United and Didcot Town. We are also hoping to have Bobby Wilson joining us. Bobby played for Didcot Town and was the Manager for Milton United team.

Bobby has now moved to Hungerford as their new 1st team manager and we would like to send him our best wishes for the next season.

Beer Festival   June 18th/19th/20th

We will be holding a beer festival on June the 18th/ 19th and 20th.  Local group Triple A will be performing live on the 19th. We will also be having a BBQ on Saturday and Sunday.

Come and enjoy the fun.

We look forward to seeing you

The George and Dragon Team 

So, we have had to say farewell to Ceilo and Bill for the second time, and it will be sad to see them leave, together with their children Gavin and Laura.

Their hard work turned the George around and made it once again a most pleasant place to visit, knowing you would always be made most welcome. They, together with their bar staff and those in the kitchen have made the pub such a happy place to spend time in, and they all will be most sadly missed.

We shall also miss Bill’s culinary skills, especially his Thai curries and specials; he leaves a standard which will be hard to follow.

We therefore wish them all a most successful future in whatever they turn their hands to and hope they will return to visit Upton from time to time.

However, we must now welcome the new tenants and hope they have an enjoyable and well supported residence at the George & Dragon.

Brian Arnold

April 23 St. George Day:

The annual St. George’s Day celebration featuring 18th century music and dance by The Vale Islanders and The Old Speckled Hen Mixed Morris will carry on as normal. We are proud to have started this tradition and long may it continue after we’re gone. Festivities will commence at 8pm.

Bill and Cielo

Since our last news, things have progressed at an extremely rapid pace. A family, local to the area, has applied for and has been selected to take over the pub’s tenancy. Papers that will formalize the deal are being drawn up as we speak. As this will definitely be the last of our updates, I will take advantage of the opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us from the beginning. You did your best and so did we but even after all our combined efforts, in the end, the strong current of the changing times are simply too strong for us. At the moment, nothing is definite about our future but it’s not bleak either. There are jobs in the pipeline and one of them might even be a pub management position for Bill! We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Our date of leaving is on the 15^th of April and we refuse to go quietly in the night! You are all invited to our leaving do, aptly entitled, The Last Hurrah Party on the 9^th of April from 9pm. Our favourite band, “Mew Wooster and Boon” will provide the Live Music on the night.

On our last week, opening and restaurant hours will slightly vary. Please take note of the following dates:

April 12 Monday: Closed

April 13 Tuesday: Regular hours and last day we will be doing food.

April 14 Wednesday: Closed at lunchtime. Open from 6pm for drinks only.

April 15 Thursday: Change-over day.

April 23 St. George Day: We have arranged for the usual celebrations to happen but couldn’t get the confirmation in time for publication. The incoming landlord has been informed about this and so I will leave it up to him to finalize the arrangements.

Again, thank you for all your support. It was good while it lasted. You will be missed. Godspeed Upton.

"Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened." - Dr Seuss

GEORGE AND DRAGON

I hope you’re all well in spite of this inclement weather we are having of late. We are certainly ready for a bit of sun. Mind you, the days when the snow made the roads impassable to motorists resulting in the closing of schools and offices were the busiest days at the pub during this mostly wet and cold winter. Talk about extremes! A really nice sunny or a very snowy day will bring people into The George and Dragon but on any other day, we would be quiet, bordering on empty. The constant supply of inclement weather is certainly one of the reasons why busy days at the pub have become few and far in between.

But like most pubs in the country, the weather is not the only reason why we are struggling. The credit crunch has drawn people away from pubs and into the supermarket for cheap food and beer, not to mention the unending regulations the government seem to think up to burden pubs even more. In the meantime, unlike the number of people patronizing the pub, the cost of running a pub, are constantly on the rise. Sadly, we are now in the position where if we don’t get out, we will be in serious trouble. It is for this reason that we’ve decided to give up our tenancy.

Greene King has started looking for new tenants. Some have been in to look around. We will have to wait until Greene King finds a replacement before we can announce a leaving date. All we know at the moment is that it will not happen in the next couple of months. In the meantime, we are still here soldiering on. Our regulars and staff have been brilliant. Rest assured that we have not compromised our food, beer and services. Bill is still freshly cooking your favourite dishes!

The day we leave will be a very sad day for us. We are happy here. We have met a lot of people who have become very good friends. In the three years that we’ve been here, each of us has changed for the better, both as a person as well as a family. We will have fond memories of the pub, our staff and our patrons.

We will definitely keep you informed of things as they progress but until then we will enjoy the time we have left.

See you at the pub!

Sorry for the lack of update last month. Our Halloween Party which was last month’s highlight had to wait until this month to be reported because it happened too late to make it to the newsletter’s November deadline. A local band, Mew and Wooster, provided the music. Once again, thank you to all who came to celebrate with us. The pictures will be up on our website soon.

Next and last big event for this year will be the New Year’s Eve party. This year, we’re going to have live music by The Triple A band performing covers from the 60’s onwards. They’re popular in the local pub scene and they’ve done a couple of gigs for us. We are looking forward to seeing them again. It’s free admission so we hope to see you revelling with us on the 31^st of December, from 9pm!

For the Sunday lunch on the 20^th of December, we will be serving a traditional Christmas Turkey Dinner! Bill does an excellent Christmas Dinner and he could do that any day, not just a Sunday! If you’re thinking about having a family do why not leave the cooking to Bill. What an excellent idea! For a minimum of ten people, we will do all the cooking, serving, cleaning and washing up for you. We’ll even throw in the Christmas decorations and crackers for free. All you have to do is sit and enjoy the family chin-wag! It’s not even going to cost you more than a regular Sunday roast, £7.75 adult and £4.50 child.

Also, if you haven’t noticed yet, we have started closing on a Monday. Trade has been very slow since the summer season finished and so we have opted to have a much deserved day off that day. The only exception would be Christmas Bank Holiday Monday.

Finally, please take note of our opening hours and activities for the Christmas Season.

24 Dec Christmas Eve

Open from 12noon until midnight

Regular menu available at lunchtime only

25 Dec Christmas Day

12noon-2.30pm Open for drinks only

26 Dec Boxing Day

Open from 12noon for drinks only

28 Dec Bank Holiday

Open from 12noon for drinks only

31 Dec New Year’s Eve

Open from 4pm drinks only Party from 9pm

1 Jan New Year’s Day

12noon-3pm Open for drinks only

This past year has been difficult for many, not least the pub. Here’s hoping that 2010 will bring us all good tidings. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

See you at the pub

As expected, it’s slowing down a bit now with the kids back in school. We’re expecting things to start getting busy again near the end of November for the Christmas season. Aunt Sally party was a very good night. The pub trip to the Thai Festival was also a huge success. We’re all looking forward to the next one.

The next event at the pub will be the much-anticipated Halloween Party, 30th October, Friday, with Live Music featuring Mew and Wooster. Fancy dress optional. From 9pm. Also, children are welcome to knock at our door on Halloween, the 30th. We always have sweets for Trick or Treaters.

See you at the pub!

Not a lot going on apart from the usual happenings at the George and Dragon. We are very busy though. Summer is not quite over yet but I can easily report that so far, we are having an outstanding season. I expect it will start to slow down again when the children go back to school but I’m feeling confident that our pre-Christmas season will also be better than last year’s. All in all, trade is definitely improving.

Reminders for your diary : 11^th Sept 9pm, 80’s Live Music Night. I shall tell you all about that as well as our Thai Festival trip in next month’s issue.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the summer.

See you at the pub!

GEORGE and DRAGON

I do apologise for the lack of updates these past couple of months. We have been very busy with both pub and our family lately and organizing our tasks have become a real challenge. It seems that people are now getting fed up with the credit crunch as it feels as if the curtain of doom and gloom is finally lifting. I’m sure it’s also because we’ve been having lots of beautiful weather lately but not even the occasional rain showers are preventing people from coming to the pub because we’re still busy even when the weather is not at its best. Long may it last, I pray.

Please take note that we are now closed on a Monday lunchtime. It’s the quietest time in the pub and therefore the best time to give ourselves a day off. We’re still open Monday evenings for drinks. Also, it is always a good idea to book a table especially if you plan to dine after 8pm. Most of the time people can walk into the pub and I’d be able to fit them in but there have been occasions when I had to stop taking orders as early as 8.30pm because Bill is already fully booked until 9pm. To avoid disappointment, please call to book a table. Our phone number is 850723.

Good news and bad news regarding Bill’s ever popular Sunday Roast and our Sunday Menu. Good news is that we’ll be on the regular Lunch Menu on a Sunday. Bad news is, to be able to do that, we have to stop doing the Sunday Roast, at least for the summer. Our biggest problem is our tiny kitchen. The roast takes up all but very little space in our kitchen preventing us to do pretty much anything else. Hopefully, Sundays will continue to be warm and sunny so that the Sunday Roast will not be missed too much.

Dates for your calendar:

31^st August Bank Holiday Monday is our bi-annual pub trip to the Thai Festival in Surrey. If you’re interested in joining us, we still have a few seats left. £10 deposit for the coach. £7.50 entrance fee per person. One child free for every two adults. There will be lots of Thai food, Thai beer, cooking demonstrations, cultural dance exhibitions and shops. The pub will be closed for lunch and will open at 6.30pm for drinks only.

11^th of September Friday 9pm, 80’s Night with live music, fancy dress optional. We will be celebrating the end of the Aunt Sally season and the birthdays of two members of our team, Steph and Emily who will be turning 18 that month! Soon I’ll be able to leave them behind the bar and go on holiday!

Once again, thank you to all valued customers. Last year, with everything going against publicans, trade became so dire we thought we’d be very lucky if we’re still here by the summer but your continued support has seen us through, has kept us going and it looks like we’re here to stay. Here’s to more good times at the George and Dragon.

See you at the pub!