17th November 2009 - It's been 1 year today since we took over this iconic building. |For those who know of it then it has changed considerably and as we sat at the end of service today (at 1am) we reflected on a few memories etc. we have over the past 12 months.

When we took over we spent 1 week refurbishing, cleaning, fitting new equipment etc to the building (a special thanks to all the friends and family that helped out).

Tonight we have served more people (a full restaurant on a Tuesday Night) than we actually served in our first month.

Not to seem too pretentious but this is a reflection of the hard work, effort, money and passion we have put in over the last 12 months. The day never starts any later than  10.00am and NEVER finishes before 1.30am.

It is also a reflection of the support we have from our family and friends and the staff we now have on board. We only have 1 remaining staff member from when we took over but now have a committed, friendly and hardworking team - that help carry our vision and ethos.

As well as the physical drain the business has been a huge financial drain and we have spent a great deal of money constantly changing and updating everything to not only try and reach our goal but also our customers goals - we constantly crave feedback and always try to make amendments to suit (just spent over £1000 on new cutlery!!)

We have the new alfresco dining area for outdoor fine dining in the summer, we have our new chicken farm but our refurbished kids play area, the restaurant is now refurbished and has a fantastic 'warm welcoming feel', the kitchen now is equipped as a kitchen should be (as much as we possibly could) and the meals we are turning out now are 'our meals' and receiving fantastic feedback.

And although we sit here with a pint of ale and have so many positives we also reflect on the things we haven't yet achieved and look to push on over the next 12 months and beyond.

So hears to another 12 months eh

Monday 23rd November

Football fever hit the Crooked house this week in the build up to our charity match against local Pub 'The Bostin Fittle'. Staff have been out buying new boots, shorts, footballs etc. They have been practicing out on the car park at the end of the shifts and a ball has been constantly tapped around behind the bar!!!!

However everyone got dishearted midweek with the news that The Bostin Fittle had pulled out (BOOOOOO) however Kirsten came up trumps and reorganised with another local pub the Forge (bit of friendly local rivalry).

The game went really well (for most of us), unfortunately we have some serious casualties.

Kirsten has ended up with a fractured arm and James - well what can we say - ended up shocked at his lack of fitness ending up taking puffs of Ginnies inhaler, blooded knees and a rather sore body!

This is no indication of any violence, the game was played in great spirits and we thank The Forge for there sportmanship especially with the crushing defeat 30-18 in favour of The Crooked House.

Well done guys!

 Saturday 28th November

Today we supported our local police station with an external catering offer - a bbq and hot jackets to raise money at the charity event. Jason and Kirsten carted off everything early on and following a difficult task to actually navigate and get everything up a large amount of stairs (that navigate is pretty heavy). The day was very indifferent - it was lovely to help out and see a great support from the local community however we didn't manage to raise any cash for our efforts. Sorry guys but we will carry on our charity fund raising at the pub!!!

 

Monday 30th November

This past few weeks has been a real roller coaster on the birds front with real ups and downs.

The ducks and silkies have grown considerably and show real character and the chicks have starters coming good on the egg front laying 5 - 7 fresh eggs a day, the new pen and freerange run at the front of the pub has been completed and today all the chicken have moved to a new big home where patrons can now see them roam free by the childrens play area.

But on a bad note Rocko aint been well and despite a visit from a vet and much tlc he is still poorly which has saddened the team. And unfortunately we have lost the quails, over the past few days we have found several of them dead and feared we had an aggressive quail. However we have found all dead now and have after investigation found an intruder - believed to be a weasel. I guess we anticipated casualties however it very sad to see we have lost (personally my favourites) in such a brutal way.

Saturday 26th December

Where on earth has this month gone? Thankfully the festive period has proved busy in our restaurant and kept us unbelievably busy. Large parties as well as a lot of familiar faces have enjoyed meals with us and our new menus and addition of Table D' Hote menus have been well recieved. This has meant everyone of us has been extremely busy particularly our kitchen and its brigade. A well earnt break is in order and everyone is looking forward to being waited on on Tuesday where we all take a couple of days off and are taking our Christmas Meal at The Holly Bush in Trysull where chef Si will be taking care of us.

So for everyone who we havn't seen over the festive period 'Merry Christmas and hope to see you all soon in the New Year.

Tuesday 26th January

It has been a while since we last wrote. Firstly thanks to the Holly Bush for there hospitality, everyone enjoyed the evening and it was a welcome change for us to be served rather than serve. The meals were well recieved and as always Jason and I took away some ideas which will hopefully add to our experience.

Secondly what on earth happened to the weather? Thanks to those who braved the conditioned and visited us - least of all to see our snow santa, but the weather certainly knocked us for six (128 cancellations over 1 week!), however trade has been surprisingly good considering the current economic climate and time of year.

Unfortunately we had other setbacks such as cancelled beer deliveries and just this week our cellar decided to warm our conditioned cask ales rather than chill and spoilt a considerable amount at great cost - however onwards and upwards as this is all rectified, the snow has gone and we have 'pukka' cask ales back on to compliment our new menus!

Following the break we have now changed our menus, firstly to change our table d' hote menu and secondly to again push on with our efforts. Chef has added further dishes that are being well recieved ( just try our twisted grey pays!) and our desserts have recieved a well overdue revamp with a signature 'tek yer back abit' and a jaw dropping cheeseboard!

As well as the menus we are now planning 2010 improvement schedule which should see us complete the allotment, should see our pigs arrive, possibly the introduction of live football (let us know your thoughts on this one as it's still undecided), improved signage (if they are not 'nicked' by local pubs AGAIN), the introduction of the picnic paddock by our outstanding secret bluebell field and improved access to the local walks and 'the view of the Gornals'.

These are just a few of the changes but we are always listening to comments and drawing ideas from other establishments to improve.

We also want to take the opportunity to say Happy 21st to Alex and a big get well soon to Laura who takes a break from looking after everyone to being looked after for a change.

November 26th

Where do we start, it has been a while and so much for us to catch up on.

The summer has come and gone and our hog roast have gone down a storm, we have held Bonfire night which hosted over 300 people. Staff have come and gone but the current group we have have customers at the formost of there thoughts.

We recently entered a Regional competition 'The Taste of Staffordshire and was delighted to be voted 2nd place throughout the whole of Staffordshire and it simply drives us further to attain a top space next year. With your feedback we are sure we can do this.

January 10th

Well what a terrible winter. Granted the snow and the festive period have given us more time to spend with loved ones but the 248 cancellations have crippled us financially.

This has meant that a few developments for this year like our new restaurant flooring will have to wait a little longer but wont be forgotten.

Our winter menus are now coming to an end as the game season draws to a aclose and some new ideas to our offering are being finely tweeked.

We hope you all had a good new year and look forward to seeing you soon.

January 18th

Our facebook group is going great and we are hoping we can use this well to let you know whats going on here.

We are hoping to make this a little more customer friendly too and let you get to know the staff aand our going on a little better. Join us as our friend to get exclusive news and offers before anyone else.

January 28th

C Word tonight and again some great food with great comments. For two Black Country lads we had some serious homework to do for this Chinese New Year menu but it was fantastic. The large corporate booking cancellation put a bit of a dampner on the event but it was well recieved by th 20 attendees. Bring on the next one on the 25th February Italian Night.

February 4th

Bookings for the paranormal night have gone extremely well and its over a month away. Only decided to do it last week! The staff are fighting to work this event as they want to know more about our residents. Not sure if its a good idea with the girls already reluctant to visit the toilets on there own or visit the cellar. This may be due to the work involved on these visits me thinks??

The chickens are back on there normal pattern of egg laying after the cold winter and we have buckets of eggs coming in. We are debating an incubater but not sure if the spawn of eddy should be unleashed on the world just yet.

Booked up for our next staff outing on Sunday 13th (nothing Valentine related or romantic). A full throttle night of Go Karting and laser quest. You wouldn't believe we are all adults would you.

Busy weekend coming up again and the staff are looking forward to a release and chance to let there hair down (although the blokes are already looking a bit thin on top already). 

We will get some pics posted on the facebook page whenever we can.

Tuesday 15th February

What a weekend, busy busy in the Restaurant all weekend which is welcomed gave our interviewees a real taster of how hard it is working at The Crooked House, some good staff hopefully been interviewed and Matt (our new chef) has got his first weekend under his belt and what a weekend Valentines weekend is!!

Busy weekend followed by a busy Monday Night - the night was great and the feedback was brilliant from our questionairres, couple of tables booked up for our C Word Italian night which is a good sign but no proposals (although I did see two tables with our Wedding Packs???

In between all this we packed in aa go karting session at Cannon and laser quest on Sunday Night which again was good for Matt - chance to see the family at play not just work.

Jason and his kitchen team triumphed AGAIN although Luke 'Stretch' Wheeler let the side down a bit - I am sure he had miss daisy next to him!

Good night and looking forward to the next activity. Send us your suggestions in!

25th February

Its been a long day today, busy day and C Word on the evening and again the food was a triumph. Our regular diners were all conversing with our C Word guests who dine on some great Italian inspired food. Our guests were all lovely and really appreciatted the food particularly the veal and when told about the cruelty that very much surrounds the animal they were even more intrigued.

On a personal note the food must have been plentiful as Chris (winner of our employee of the month who dines for free at the next C word) was actually heard to say he was full and as the human dustbin of the kitchen we find that quite an amazing accomplishment for our kitchen brigade.

The comment cards were again very good and complimetory which Chef Jason was pleased with as he felt some pressure to do this menu justice using great food simply but creating great food as do the Italian.

The evening was also good for Matt who's knowledge hopefully expands each shift with us. Service is most definatelly a big culture shock from the large kitchens and most definatelly the college pace of life. He is fitting in well and is even joining in the typical Crooked House family banter.

The next C word is 25th March which is Celebration of the Sea and features 6 courses of fresh seafood dishes.

Its followed by the next one on The Royal wedding Date of 29th April and features dishes as cooked by Royal Chef Graham Tinsley who cooks for the Prince of Wales major functions and is titled 'Fit for a (future) King!

Looking forward to them both

28th February

What a week, half term week is always fun and last week was no expception over 200 people fed this weekend on top of C Word and that meant the kitchen was busy!

Everone looks jaded so it was off to Cosmo Sunday for a competition to see who can fill there face the most. Its a welcome change to all get out together and its all the better this week as we have some 'newbies' to our team. Welcome to Sadie, Oliver, Michelle and Sarah. They all seem nice, enthusiastic and hopefully will make good additions to our team and join our extended family?

Bit of a wounder as my little man H was porrly as was mom so I abstained to do the fatherly and husbandly thing but all the staff enjoyed it (as they gladly informed me over again). Not our normal tpe of food but great for a big group out to have fun and I think the competition was taken a little easy with the 'girls' present. Matt apparently made a valiant effort as did J and again I think Kitchen came out top. I did have high hopes that John would have done us proud out front cos for a little un he con ate! Chris demolished the desserts apparently leaving very littel for anyone else but good fun apparently and they went out after although I wont shame them as to where they went!!! Apparently Gemma has a new profession and also picked up a little fan club who liked to scream "you go girlfriend". There is one clue and the other is when they told me where they went for some reason the blue oyster bar in police academy sprang to mind? Don't know why!  Luckily the newbies wernt present and have yet to be corrupted.

Why not pop down and meet them, they have already met Stan who says they ALL have beautiful names and has already educated them as to there family trees, potential related path to his famil tree and all the local history such as Sarah (beautiful name) coming from Kingsinford which originated from the old swine crossing of the king himself! Classic Stan, bloody Classic.

7th March

Another addition to the staff this week - Lily (another beautiful name apparently) and unfortunatelly we say goodbye to one of our favourites Kirst-one.

There are few staff that I genuinely regret to loose for one reason or another. Some I feel its the best time for them to move on, or they were only meant to work for a short period some just simply come and go but some and it is rare do leave a void and Kirst is one of those. She was one of the gang and has blossomed from little kirst to the young women she was yesterday. I am sure she will stay in  touch with some staff and hopefully pop down, she was a favourite with customers as well as staff and good luck to her in her new job. She said yeaterday thanks for having her but it is just as much a case of thanks for working for us Kirst good one. Good luck from us all!

On a positive she has left a void on team Iain for our comic relief challenge. As the teams have been announced and the thought of a public gunging comes ever closer (as well as the word of fish guts being added staff will be getting a move on to raise funds and get some sponsors. Auction items are rolling in from local companies and the staff have some novel ideas which will be posted next week prior to the auction.

Hope to see you there with the hog roast on full .

9th May

It HAS been a while since or last post and it has been a very hectic one, since our last post we have had our charity week for comic relief which raised £753.00  eventually, and thank you to the staff that made the effort to raise the extra cash. The auction was a good fun event and there was plenty of bargaind (I loved my car wash and so did the lads!), we are always trying to raise charity cash and the marbles always helps especially over this extended break with bank holidays galore!

 

We have enjoyed many guests and some great feedback and some negative. We are always responsive to negative and where we can will always adapt, some negatives have been about service and we would ask that customers bear with new staff as they would in all aspects of service. We have had some new staff and have highlighted them to customers but come on, we have all been ther and we recruit staff that all care so give a little patience if they are not as quick or do not know everythimg (we have all been there).

The Long Easter break has also been busy function wise and we have been delighted to host 3 weddings  which have all been uniquely different but all gone exceptionally well and been well enjoyed by guests and staff alike!

 

We have held our royal Wedding C word and been busy!!

Today we had our staff 'cook off'! Along with Staff training we also cook off seasoned dishes for staff to try and help feedback for customers and we also offer new dished for our new menu for feedback.

Myslef (Wayne), Head chef Jason and Commis Matt offred up 12 new options and invited guest chefs Alex Mould (ex CDP and now head chef) and Ant (Sous Chef at The Granary) to add ideas for our new Summer menu.

 

Matt our new chef is always learning nad hope our inovativate take on gastronomy and good rustic eating have a good impact on his career and hope that we  have a lasting experience on all staff! IT WAS GOOD WATCHIN ALL OUR STAFF ENJOYING FOOD LIKE WE (ME AND JAY) HOPE PEOPLE WOULD!

 

We enjoy food, don't know if you had noticed? We also want to make a dining experience you cannot exprience elsewhere and most of all hope you enjoy your whole experince and talk about us (in a good way) to others.

 Our new menu on the back of today lookes VERY exciting, technically great, viusally very good and above all BLOODY GOOD FOOD! HONESTlY.

 We are well looking forward to this season, fantastic co cheeks, an exceptional CROOKED HOUSE picnic hamper, fresh chicken dishes, new vegetarian options and some "orgasmic" desserts!!

 Hope you enjoy them as much as our dedicated staff!

 The night was crackin, good food, great banter and feedback and the potential fo a REALLY exciting new menu!

 We are well excited about our summer menu and hope that our customers enjoy it as much as we do serving it!

16th May

We have been busy busy refining our new menu and with the last few treeks will have it in at the beginining of June to get it all in before we get ready for our Annual Street Banquet raising money for charity. We are trying to tweek our fish courses for our menu but fish is always a headache because it is so tempramental and price fluctuates so much (in one week our fresh fish has doubled in price!!).

Keep a look out on here as we will post our new menu in the next couple of weeks!

Thursday 19th May

Early morning this morning for our team, myself (Wayne), team managers Iain and Jon, Head Chef J and Commis Matt were all up at 3.00am to head off to market.

We were not only on the look out for new menu ideas but it's also a great opportunity for us to speak to suppliers about whats good at the moment, quiz them on fish that we have no idea what it is (bombay Duck! Yes they are fish and had some today for the menu).

We also went a bit mad with the game suppliers, I am a bit of a sucker for game and fetched some vennison, pidgeon, duck, rabbit and some (after trying some for breakfast) vennison sausage (yes I went a bit mad).

We had some great skate wings, some shetland mussels, Bombay duck, some pukka king scallops and brought back some ideas for our menu too after speaking with suppliers about sustainability and responsibly sourced ideas..

It was a virgin experience for the lads who I think enjoyed it. Matt got caught with some extra raspberries much to all our enjoyment and it was a rare opportunity for us all to chat without the public demands.

We followed up by breakfast at my humble abode before me and jon headed off for an all day shift.

Yep up at 3.00 and work till 12.30am - we are knackered.

22nd June

It has been a long hard few weeks on personal and work front for a few staff, and trade has happily picked up just in time to prepare us for a busy summer and Wedding season. We have some new additions with staff and new chickens hatched right here at The Crooked House and a few departures notably Matt (commis Chef) who is broadening his horrizons at a 3 rosette / 5 star spa in Bournemouth. We wish him all the best and hope we have someway helped him prepare for this big step (get your head down work hard and keep your standards).

His departure and a reshuffle is leaving us restructuring and providing us the opportunity to add to our kitchen brigade, Stretch is being promoted to Commis and has been enrolled at Birmingham Food College and we are looking for a sous chef and Chef de Partie to help us push forward and gain the custom and awards we are looking for.

We have also started work on the family garden area adjacent to the play area and hopefully will have this open for the holidays. The wedding garden landscaping has arrived and will be started next week and kitchen equipment and staff outdoor area are scheduled in for the next month so busy busy AGAIN!

We are also looking at promoting food and cooking in our community and are looking for a school for us to work with. So watch this space.

 

20th July - We have had an extremely busy few weeks trying tom prepare for nthe school holidays, the last few days have been preparing for our new menu launch, checking suppliers, preparing dishes, refining recipes etc. But prior to this we have been refurbing the kitchen, the new prep area and having equipment installed including the walk-in fridge in preperation for the growing stock levels needed for our new menu. We have been working on the outside areas too to tidy up and cut back all the growth that has happened with the weed freindly weather. Hopefully we are somewhat ready  so fingers crossed for the onslaught. We are hoping our new staff are ready as well and hope our customers are kind to them. We all went bowling Sunday to let off some steam prior to the holidays and have to say that (thanks to the barriers and some devilish bowling from newbie Matt) front of house beat the kitchen in a bowl off! everyone had a good night and thanks to Lily's newly found flaw in the roulette betting system we are all hoping to be millionairres soon after we visited the casino afterwards.

August 18th

Well the school holidays are well underway and as expected large unbooked groups have indeed called in, it has been in parts somewhat quiter than expected during the days although we have had our moments however the evening have been surprisingly busier than previous years.

The new menu is in full swing now however we have been slightly deflated by the calibre of Chefs we interviewed recently. What do we have to do to find a chef that actually enjoys cooking food?

Several interviews have taken place and without seeming biased the best candidate to work here is our own 'Stretch' he has been bubbly, enthusiastic and is like a sponge at the moment. He has indeed succesfully gained a place a Birmingham college and we hope he carries on in the same vain. It was also nice to see Matt back the other day. He had a rare weekend off and visited us somewhat more steamlined I might add mate. Glad to see he is getting on ok, we also had Si back for a wedding function this month and it was odd to see him back but with the new refrurbed kitchen next to Stretch. How times have changed.

On the chef front we are still busily seeking that final jigsaw peice, I mean seriously how can someone ask me for £20k + when they offer me either uncooked salmon (not intentional), chicken BBQ melt, cannot do any costings, any GPs or tell me you can't work weekends!!!

There has to be someone out there?

Until then I will need to continue my duties and entrust my front of house team to pick up my slack. On which note I found it somewhat dissapointing recently to hear that we were understaffed and poorly trained. I can see sometimes where people can percieve some failings but to aim abuse and criticism at new members of staff that have just started working seems somewhat harsh. We have taken on some staff and although experienced in the trade everywhere opporates differently so please bear with them. And with regards to staffing levels how many people do you think can work behind that bar? It physically can only fit two people behind it and we only have one tap for each product so you can't pour much quicker! Do we have an army of staff waiting for cutomers in case we have a influx of people come down in one go? It isn't a rant just offering up our perspective so that you can appreciatte that we don't make you wait on purpose it is just that it is a little unavoidable that when you are busy and there is a demand for something there is inevitably a wait and queues!   

 On the wedding front we held our first and second wedding ceremonies here some weeks back which although extremely hard work (particularly when suppliers let you down at the last minute!!!) went very well indeed. In fact the weddings and functions are extremely popular at the moment the only downside is we have to close for general public and some dissapointed visitors left us that weekend - I cannot stress how important it is to contact any establishment if you have large bookings. It is a dissapointement to both us and you when we cant accomodate you and this can be avoided or worked around with a phone call!

Well 2 more weeks and the kids are back and my little lad starts Nursery too, it seems like two minutes ago that he was born (funnily enough the exact time we took over the reigns of the pub and hopefully it has grown much like H has and hopefully both will continue to blossom and grow.

Happy New Year to you all, 2011 has been a mixed bag for us upon reflection. On a personal front the end of the year has been tough and has probably been detrimental to us moving forward. However we have made great strides and are very happy with the way we operate now, our staffing are much more settled and we have a great team that is very customer orientated which is reflected in our customer feedback.

 

We look forward to seeing you in 2011 and wish for a good year! 

 22nd January 2012

We have made it our new years resolution to try to do more in the pub this year and hopefully have some exciting things happening this year. We have started looking at events and first up is Valentines and apart from the norm of providing a meal that rips people off we have decided to put on a menu that with some serious research includes plenty of aphrodisiacs and will (I can be quoted on this) be exceptional and nothing you will get elsewhere which I think is what you would want when treating each other. Anyway I am digressing, we are also going to have a speed dating for singletons and aim to move forward from this point with quiz nights, ghost nights, ale and stilton, pudding clubs and whatever you want so please let us know. It isn't all business though and we don't wish for you to think that, this business is everything to us and we do try our best and so do our staff, this was prudent yesterday when a couple of our staff were physically upset when mixy was attacked by a dog outside the pub. For those who are not familiar with The Crooked House we inherited 2 ferrel cats when we took over 3 years ago who although we have (despite there protests and on many occasions had the odd swipe and hiss) fed and provided shelter they have never really trusted anyone or allowed any to fuss them. Mixy has especially been untrusting and in fact nowadays we wonder if 'stripe' (the other cat) was ever wild?  

 

But yesterday when the attack occurred we were all quite upset and was relieved today to see her up and about, a little diligently on her legs but eating, drinking and moving around. The owner of the dogs however (when we catch up with him) will not be moving around the pub as he is not welcome around these grounds.

January 30th 2012

When we decide to work in this trade (and my brother clearly states that you don't choose to be a chef - it chooses you!) it somewhat takes over your thinking, you want some kind of perfection, you want to please, perhaps almost gloat in your expertise?  

 

This is great when it goes well and we are fortunate enough for it to go well nearly all the time BUT when it doesn't and service isn't as you want (like today) it smarts. Forget the monetary value, I can clearly state that when someone does not enjoy a visit it hurts. I take no pleasure in taking money for nothing, I no we want people to enjoy there visit, to go away speaking highly of us, something for myself , my family and friends to take pride in, for them to realise why we commit so many hours to our cause and despite yesterdays fantastic comments and the request from a patron to speak to the chef to tell them it was the best meal they had had all year (and it is not the first time lately that this comment has been passed) I will not remember this. 

What I will wake up with in the morning is a the feeling of failure, this is probably the first time we have shared this and we are fortunate to not feel it very often but when we do it lasts far longer than any good service. Hopefully this is a one of and we won't face this any time soon and we can only apologize to those two tables that waited for there food (hopefully the quality of food compensated for this?) but never-the-less this does rest heavy on our hearts!

 

Sorry !!!!