The fourth pub of the day that Julian and I visited was the Volunteer, a Stonegate pub operated as one of their Craft Union venues. I quite like this chain, the pubs are wet-led with no food, usually community driven and are very often really quite, er, vibrant. The pub first opened in the 1890s and was known as the Volunteer Stores, this later became a Inntrepeneur pub before Stonegate acquired it.
The Lowestoft Journal published in September 1914 what I thought was an interesting article and it occurs to me that this would have been one of the first correspondences that the locals would have heard from the front.
“Mr Bessey, of Lowestoft, who has been returned wounded from the front, and is now in Hospital, Woolwich, has written as follows to the Volunteer Stores, Lowestoft:-
Dear Pal,—Just a line to say I have returned from the war to England, wounded in both hands from shrapnel fire. They are only slight wounds, and I shall be as well as ever again in about three or four weeks. I have no bones broken, only flesh wounds. I expect I shall have to go back again for another issue after I get well again, but I don’t grumble, as I think myself lucky to be alive now. It was hot, I can tell you, before I got bowled over. I got mixed up with other regiments, so I took no harm, and shall be able to tell you more if I have the luck to see you again. I didn’t think I should have reached England again so soon. I should like to be out at the front at the finish, if we come out on top, so as to return home with my regiment. Now must bring this letter to a close, as I cannot write very well with my hands bandaged. We got plenty given us out in France, also in Belgium. The people out there behaved well to us.”
I’ve seen this before as well, when the injured returned back home early in the war were actually fearful that they’d miss the finish as it wasn’t exactly expected this conflict would last for years. There seems to be some link to the military in the pub, they raised support packages for British troops in South Africa in the early twentieth century and in more recent years there were military items displayed on the wall.
The prices in the chain are firmly towards the lower end of the scale across the keg, cask, softs and spirit options, an approach which requires a high volume of customers. They only had one real ale when we visited, the Gold Beer From Hobgoblin. The customer service wasn’t appalling, with the service time being reasonable.
The pub was clean, although Stonegate do perhaps need to do some maintenance upgrades to the venue.
The lower section of the pub and there’s another feature of Craft Union pubs, which is that they show a lot of sport.
The pricing and some of these drinks are cheaper than at JD Wetherspoon venues.
The beer was Hobgoblins Gold from Marston’s Brewery, priced at £2.20 a pint, it was well kept but it’s quite a generic and uninteresting beer. Julian liked it, but he’s more into beers like that.
There’s certainly a place for Craft Union pubs, they offer cheap drinks and try their best to be affordable. The downside of that is that inevitably there’s a challenge to maintaining the building and keeping it safe for all customers, something some of their pubs achieve and some simply don’t. When we visited it is fair to say that the venue was very lively, although it didn’t feel unsafe. I suspect that this is one of these pubs that someone new to the area could visit and be made to feel welcome, so an essential part of the community.