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It will be great to have the pub open again and although I only know Jeanette just to say hello, I am sure she will do an excellent job. She is certainly experienced in this field and I seem to remember being served by her in 3 different pubs, in as many days.
I have to disagree though Paul, I think the fabric of the pub is great as it is. A bit of general maintenance may be required but I think you are mistaking the smell of decay with that of character. Solid hardwood tables that require a beer mat under one leg far exceed the soullessness of the angular pine nonsense found in many contemporary 'bars'. Laminated floors, crisp plasterboard walls, and over-engineered automated sanitary equipment (that does everything but shake it for you) all has a place, but this is certainly not in pubs like the White Horse. Rough old sofas, wonky furniture and toilets where you can see your own breath in the colder months are wonderful.
Now it may be possible to cite an argument that society is more discerning and that the 'pub-goer' expects more, but I just don't think this is true. This outlook could be applied to the 'bar-goer', an interesting creature that sips over priced Chablis or drinks bottles of beer with lumps of lime stuck in the mouth, whilst eating pimento stuffed olives from a terracotta dish and only talking to the people that they have gone out with. These people are usually just the product of media conditioning and after portraying the idea of discernment in a social context, just go home and eat ready meals and watch the 'X-factor' because they really haven't actually got any taste at all.
The 'Pub-goer' however, eats peanuts from the bar (free to everyone), flying in face of media conditioning, that tells him/her that there is probably 16 different types of urine on the peanuts and if the hand-drier in the toilets is broken, this could increase exponentially! The pub goer talks about everything, with complete strangers and moans about how rubbish TV is. WE don't care about silly Swedish furniture or clean floors, and we can sit in a bar and talk to anyone as long as the beer is good. The fabric of a pub is secondary to the people in it...even if that is only a handful. We are of course a dying breed, as more people in their obsession with cost, turn to drinking at home and watching one of their 600 sky channels; With Lifestyle channels that portray yet more swanky bars and distort their outlook even more.
Now I'm not saying there is no place for slick modern bars, but the White horse is great the way it has always been and unnecessary tampering would make me quite sad!
