The Ship (marks out of ten please)

[Lex James]

The Ship is now open and all the hype has died down. So come on guys lets give it some marks out of ten.

Ive yet to go there but it always looks dead when I pass

[smith]

3/10
Good = no smoking corner, sofas.
Bad = smoke extractors turned off, clientele [teenagers and owner's mates], interior design [naff].

[Deirdre]

3 out of 10... only because it is better than being a derelict building. The owner needs to make more effort and actually make the increasing young professional locals feel welcome. He has not succeeded in doing this. It's going to take more than several coats of magnolia, a few old PC prints and cheap drinks. am thinking of making the place feel more modern, open, airy, welcoming, and maybe serve some decent food! At the moment the place doesn't know what it wants to be, thought it certainly does know it CAN'T be a nightclub.

[wildheart]

Visited last night for the first time.

3/10, at least it's been redeveloped and at least it's not offensively bad. But what a missed opportunity!

Sort out the music, the lighting and get some character into the decor for very little money and it could be very good.

The clientel did not seem to fit the 'image' of the place either, it feels like a youth club but was full of middle aged men.

Would much sooner go to The Old Mill, or perhaps The Woodman when it is finished.

[mac125]

What can I say? WHAT A WASTE!!!! Went along last night to check it out. Full of rowdy blokes, lights so bright they blind you and the most terrible poor excuse for music I have ever heard. Especially liked the 'home-made' laminated drinks & snacks menus on the tables telling me they had peanuts for sale. Wow what a stylish touch! Note to the Owner - please sell your pub to someone who knows his market and wants to some make money! Plumstead Common needs a gastropub not a 'yoof club'.

[mac125]

sorry forgot to leave my marks out of ten - a very disappointed 2. 2 points for turning the Ship into a habitable building.

[jonnylion]

This is very disapointing! I was hoping when i move your way that this will be my local, i heard bad words about it before the remake but hoped it would bit more nicer. oh well, if it serves beer it will do me.
is there a beer garden?

[Dave]

Deirdre said:

3 out of 10... only because it is better than being a derelict building. The owner needs to make more effort and actually make the increasing young professional locals feel welcome. He has not succeeded in doing this. It's going to take more than several coats of magnolia, a few old PC prints and cheap drinks. am thinking of making the place feel more modern, open, airy, welcoming, and maybe serve some decent food! At the moment the place doesn't know what it wants to be, thought it certainly does know it CAN'T be a nightclub.

Seems like you want exactly what I dont.

'Young Professionals', should that read yuppies or wankers, or Mindless Sheeple who coz they get a train uptown to some crappy corporate office hell job think this not only justifies a superiority complex but, can compensate for lack of personality or inability to think outside of the consumerist box. They're best of sticking to mindless, mundane uptown crap like the slug and lettuce or all bar one, which personally if they were on fire I wouldn't waste my wee.

As for making the place open, airy and modern - please, dont make me laugh. See what happened when the rose and crown on the high st tried the same thing? These type of pubs nearly always fail because they lose all atmosphere. I'd rather cut my thingy off with rusty scissors than frequent a sterile, soulless, laminate floored hell.

Luckily there are other pubs in plumstead.

[Guest]

Gosh you are disagreeable in nearly every post you write. Is it your working class chip on your shoulder that bothers you most about people who work "up town"? Having a decent job and lifestyle with some taste thrown in for good measure does not make you mindless or uniformed - indeed it actually gives you more room for variation.
Yuppies dont drink in the Slug or AB1 either that tends to be City secretaries from kent.. and The Ship could have made a lot more money if it had bothered to look at the influx of new people into the area and opened up the pub with some sofas, art work and served food. Most individually owned bars do have their own personalities are not fitted out in identikit and have a great atmosphere in them - you should get out more.
it is madness that not one pub in Plumstead serves food.

[Dave]

Guest said:

Gosh you are disagreeable in nearly every post you write. Is it your working class chip on your shoulder that bothers you most about people who work "up town"? Having a decent job and lifestyle with some taste thrown in for good measure does not make you mindless or uniformed - indeed it actually gives you more room for variation.
Yuppies dont drink in the Slug or AB1 either that tends to be City secretaries from kent.. and The Ship could have made a lot more money if it had bothered to look at the influx of new people into the area and opened up the pub with some sofas, art work and served food. Most individually owned bars do have their own personalities are not fitted out in identikit and have a great atmosphere in them - you should get out more.
it is madness that not one pub in Plumstead serves food.

'Disagreeable', I like it - very John Major.

You make far too many assumptions. I worked uptown myself for many, many years so I'm speaking from good experience. It doesn't mean you have any better lifestyle or job and certainly doesn't mean you have taste. If you want to put it to the test why not go to the station in the rush hour and see how many people you can spot smiling - surely there'd be lots of happy people around if your theory is true?

As for 'working class chip on my shoulder', I find that assumption a bit sad considering Plumstead has always been a working class area. I have a dislike for stupidity, non-thinking and mindless consumerism culture, if you interpret that as a chip on my shoulder then it probably says more about you than me.

I'm agreeable with you on the matter of no pubs serving food although (i may be wrong) I think the Volunteer down on the High St does (can anyone confirm)? However, I prefer my pubs to be pubs - serving pub food. I think its more disgraceful though, that proper live music in pubs seems to be pretty much non-existant in SE London.

[ajw2007]

Blimey! If we all agreed it would be a very dull world. Nice to see some friendly debate on here. For the record, the Old Mill does food at lunch time - baked spuds and sarnies, but better than nothing!

As for live music, I agree, there is a dearth of places to go - once agin, the Mill does the odd night, epecially over the summer.

Further afield, the Mitre in Greenwich has an open mic every 2nd Thursday of the month - it's on tonight if anyone wants to check it out. Last time there were some good acts, some OK ones, a couple of strnge ones and a very very very bad stand-up comic (who got the only heckles on the night). It's a friendly crowd, very supportive. End of advert (oh, and we might be playing tonight, ahem, cof)

[wildheart]

I have seen people eating Scampi and Chips in The Volunteer. But I have never seen a menu in there so I'm not sure if they cater only for regulars?
It's my local and I think it's OK. The usual beers, local people, Sky Sports and a big beer garden.
As for the Ship, I work 'up town' and I can't bear souless, thoughtless drinking sheds like you find in the West End. But no one here is suggesting The Ship should be like that.
What it could be is comfortable, welcoming and relaxing. Something that is pitched at the whole community, it's a large enough building to cope with being busy.
What it is at present is anything but.

[ajw2007]

Typical! The Mitre's cancelled the open mic (change in management)

On the food front, I had a lovelt baked spud and salad at the Old Mill for lunch today. My lunch companion also enjoyed her substantial ham salad doorstep.

[dimps]

I have had good lunches in The Volunteer on occasion - but it is hit and miss when they decide to serve it. It is a shame if The Old Mill no longer serves food - it was a popular Sunday lunch venue for families for a while (and was even very "veggie" friendly).

[Mrsdp]

Does the Old Mill serve food at the weekend does anyone know? Not much use to me during the week I'm afraid but really miss not having somewhere to go for sunday lunch and the papers....