The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
Pub to close as bill hike leaves owner ‘bruised’
A POPULAR Jesmond pub has announced it is closing its doors after rocketing bills, rampant inflation and Covid repayments left its owner “a little bruised and a little lacking in energy”.
Dave Carr’s firm Frank & Bird led a grand restoration of the empty Punchbowl Hotel in Cradlewell before reopening it five years ago, as a sister venue to his dog-friendly Gosforth pub The Brandling Villa.
The 150-year-old building was transformed into a “Bet Lynch meets David Lynch” vintage Northern pub with a twist, featuring influences from Mr Carr’s travels around the world, including electronic toilets from a Mcdonald’s in Tokyo, a 50m train replica of the East Coast mainline, Chesterfields created especially for dogs and a Donald Trump dartboard.
Now, however, the five-year lease is up and Mr Carr has announced he is not extending the tenancy, saying: “As much as we love it here, £10,000 a month utility bills, Covid repayments and rampant inflation has left us a little bruised and a little lacking in energy that another five years asks for.
“We didn’t get everything right, but we’re very proud that we rescued a derelict place and made it sing for a while.”
The pub won’t stay closed for long however – the pub’s neighbours, Mexican restaurant Birria Bella, are moving in on March 25, and Mr Carr says most of the staff are staying on for the new venture.
Mr Carr said he has just signed up for another 10 years at The Brandling Villa, and that he would have stayed on at the Punchbowl Hotel if the utility bills had not been so punitive.
He said: “I would have stayed on at the Punchbowl but we had a £100,000 increase in utilities, so that wiped out everything we had left for that year.
“We’re now back in a situation where we can make some profit, but what’s the motivation for me to do another five years? I want to do something interesting – that’s why I got that place, because we got the venue and could do lots of interesting things there.”
He said that the upstairs venue, Bobiks, would also have to close because it’s not seen as viable for the new tenants.
He said: “That’s a gutter too because we didn’t really get to where we wanted with that. It was very popular and well loved but it was still very underground and hidden away, and feels half-finished.”
While The Punchbowl may be closing Dave hopes that some of the more unusual and eccentric decor could be used in a future venture.
He said: “They buy all the fixtures and fittings back off you – but they’re saying ‘this stuff is kind of weird, we’re not going to buy it off you’.
“There’s a wine dispense kit, and quite expensive oddball Russian stuff, but they’re saying it’s not transferable to the new tenants.
“So I maybe will have a big pile of stuff just waiting for my next thing – my missus might be a bit annoyed that I’ve got a load of Japanese toilets cluttering up the spare room though. The Brandling runs itself and five years ago I got the Punch
bowl because I was bored out of my mind really. What I want is a really small venue where I can sell something really obscure and if people don’t like it, so what?
“When I was in Ukraine you used to get places just selling hot and cold cherry liqueurs.
“In big pubs you have to make £20,000 to break even, just selling millions of pints of lager. I want a venue where I don’t have to do that.
“If more people did that we’d have a much better scene, rather than everyone trying to emulate what’s just come out of London or New York.”