Blue Ship

05/06/2026

A reminder that we are closed until Friday 26th June.
For table reservations / camping enquiries after this date please email us [email protected]
We look forward to welcoming everyone in a few weeks.

03/06/2026

The Independent Pub Alliance proudly supports the 'VAT's The Problem’ campaign spearheaded by Tom Kerridge and hospitality leaders across the UK.

For years, pubs, bars, restaurants and hospitality venues have warned that the current VAT burden is unsustainable. While costs continue to rise across the board, wages, energy, business rates, insurance and suppliers, hospitality businesses are still expected to hand over 20% VAT on food and drink sales in one of the toughest trading environments the industry has ever faced.

A reduction in hospitality VAT to 10% would not be a handout. It would be a lifeline.

It would allow struggling pubs and hospitality venues to:
• Keep prices fairer for customers
• Protect jobs
• Invest back into their businesses
• Improve wages and working conditions
• Reduce closures in communities across the country

The UK currently has one of the highest hospitality VAT rates in Europe, placing independent venues at a huge disadvantage compared with many neighbouring countries that already recognise hospitality as a vital economic and social sector worth protecting.

Pubs are more than businesses. They are community hubs, social spaces, employers, fundraisers and part of Britain’s cultural identity. Every pub closure represents lost jobs, lost investment and the loss of another community meeting place.

Supporting this campaign is about supporting the future of British hospitality.

The IPA may still be growing as an organisation, but remaining silent on an issue this important would serve nobody. We believe the industry must stand together, regardless of who is leading the conversation, and push for meaningful long-term support before more businesses disappear for good.

31/05/2026

We are now closed until Friday 26th June.
For table reservations / camping enquiries after this date please email us [email protected]
We look forward to welcoming everyone in a few weeks.

29/05/2026

WTAF 😱 You could not make this up could you...well done Rach! 😳

🤬 NICE PUB TAX?! 🤬

You actually couldn't make this up!

Just when you think the absolute clowns running the country have run out of ways to squeeze the hospitality industry dry, they invent a new one…🤡

Today’s massive headline: HMRC has issued new guidance to tax assessors for a brand new "Nice Pub Tax."

🤯 I am not joking!

🤯 That is literally what it is!

The geniuses at the Valuation Office Agency have been told that if your pub is actually nice - if you have a scenic view, a river frontage, a well-kept beer garden, a decent play area for the kids, or God forbid, you’ve put a bit of money into maintaining a historic "character property" - you’re getting slapped with even higher business rates!!! 🌄🦆🛝🏖️

Just think about the staggering “logic” of this for a second!

👉 As a publican, you work 90-hour weeks.

👉 You bleed yourself dry investing every spare penny into making your venue an attractive, welcoming place for the community.

👉 You fix the roof, you landscape the garden, you offer a premium menu so people actually want to eat your food.

And what is your reward from Rachel Reeves and her clipboard-wielding tax inspectors? 🧐

"Ooh, that’s a lovely beer garden you’ve got there, mate. Shame if someone were to absolutely tax the living daylights out of it."

🚨 They are literally penalizing success and taxing pride. 🚨

If you run a rundown, miserable concrete box with zero competition and a sticky carpet, congratulations - you’re fine. 👌

But if you try to give your customers something beautiful, you get a massive tax hike hidden under the guise of "modern revaluations" looking ahead to 2029. 📈🤬

We already lost the 40% retail and hospitality relief in April, my rates have already doubled, and now they’re actively hunting down destination country inns and gastropubs for more, because they have "too much appeal”!

What the actual f**k?!? 🤯

❌ It’s completely broken. They want us to survive on fresh air and good vibes, while they price the traditional British pub right out of existence.

🚨 THIS GOVERNMENT HAS LOST THE FU***NG PLOT!

🚨 RACHEL REEVES HAS OFFICIALLY DECLARED WAR ON HOSPITALITY!

I’m off to pour a pint and stare blankly at my beer garden before the council charges me a premium just for looking at the f**king bushes!

Tell me your thoughts below. Are you a publican facing a massive hike? Or a punter sick of watching your favourite local being bled dry? 👇

WE. NEED. TO. FIGHT. THIS. NOW!

27/05/2026

It was such a lovely weekend at the pub and the campsite...so it is extremely frustrating and disheartening for us when we go out in to the campsite yesterday evening after final guests have departed to find an absolute mess...
With rubbish left behind, glass bottles just on the ground (despite our no glass policy), our nice plastic water jugs from the pub taken out there without permission and just discarded and one broken. And a half full bottle of lamp oil despite us not allowing any kind of fuelled lamps, candles etc for very obvious safety reasons. Two toilet seats broken, toilet roll holder broken. Tent pegs left in the ground that would break our mower.
All more jobs for us to undertake / repair and costs to our small independent business 😟
Why do the minority choose to disregard our rules thinking they dont apply to them somehow and just ruin it for everyone else.
This is our home and our business, our dogs and our young son play on our land when we are closed during the week, i shouldn't be worried about glass and rubbish that people haven't had the decency to clear up.
This really makes us just want to close the gates on camping at times and just focus on the pub itself which would be such a shame.
If you are camping with us please have some consideration, be kind, and leave it as you find it, you wouldn't like it in your own garden or land.

26/05/2026

Weekend kitchen / waitering staff wanted to join our young weekend summer team.
Experience not essential but must be keen, willing to learn and enthusiastic with good people skills. Minimum age 15. To start at the end of June, must be available for the summer months.
Please email Sophie [email protected]

24/05/2026

Wow what a busy weekend...great to see all of our camping guests and all of our customers enjoying this gorgeous sunshine on a bank holiday weekend.
Our apologies to anyone who phoned or turned up for dinner last night or lunch today that we couldn't fit in, we were absolutely fully booked and had even squeezed in a few extra where we could but we simply had no capacity for any more! We do try and emphasise during summer months please do book ahead for lunch / dinner as we are generally fully booked most weekends once the campsite is operational and the sun is shining, we genuinely hate refusing any customers but we can only do what we can do.
Thank you to everyone who visited this weekend 😎🥰😎
Also a reminder we are not open tomorrow (bank holiday Monday)

24/05/2026

We are open today from midday until 4pm (we are fully booked for Sunday lunch now). We will then reopen at 6.30pm for drinks. Please do come and join us 😎🍺😎

23/05/2026

A polite reminder to our camping guests...arrivals are from 2pm, this is on our Pitch Up listing, in your booking confirmation and on the email snd text message you receive from us.

This is done for logistical reasons to allow the campers that are departing that day time to do so, time for us to clean and restock the toilets.

We have had campers arrive at 10.30 today, midday, 12.30...check in is from 2pm and this applies to everyone without exception.
On a super busy wknd like this one it is vital as pitches may not be free if you arrive early!

22/05/2026

The Campsite is now fully booked this weekend.
Those who have tried to make a late booking without success, we hope to welcome you another time