Blackout at PK
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On Saturday 2nd Dec, just as we were about to open in the evening, the dining room chimney caught fire. Our gallant staff did all the right things and cut off the draught to the fire place while calling the fire brigade, who responded immediately and made it from Newbury the seven miles to us within 20 minutes. They did a great job but we did end up with firemen on the roof pouring water down the chimney while others where in the dining room squirting water up it. Guests arriving for dinner were given champagne in the bar while the two other dining rooms were made safe to eat in. Dinner was a little late and with a smaller choice than usual but our very understanding guests had quite a merry time. Every cloud (or chimney) has a silver lining however and in pulling the fireplace apart to get to the damage, we uncovered a much more attractive one. Work is now in hand to install a new fireplace while the chimney is lined - hence the current scaffolding on the outside. The finished product will give a much more spacious look to the dining room as well as being much more efficient and cheerful.
Sunday was my birthday, and for once i was looking forward to a quiet day. Not to be! I was rudely woken by a call from the PK to say that all the electricity had gone off again just before lunch (full house once again). This time it was a fault in our power system and just could not be reset. Frantic phone calls for an electrician were made but it seemed they were all out mending other people's wiring. It was a bit like a "Chalet Slaves" emergency for those of you who watched the series. We all once more swung into action and set up a field kitchen outside the back door, borrowed my parent's barbeque and serving a fairly full Sunday Lunch menu with the obligatory mulled wine to kick off.
Our trusty electrician repaired the fault just after we had served a fair proportion of the main courses and it was back to business as usual. I guess that we are bit like the legendary Windmill in London during the blitz - we never close! Although in retrospect it was great fun, we will do our best to limit these practice sessions for civil disaster in the future and I'll settle for a normal birthday party. I would like to sincerely thank all of the staff and everyone who rallied around to help. I'd also like to apologise to our guests and to express the hope that they were not too inconvenienced. best wishes, Mike Robinson
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The following weekend, at about the same time (6pm) all the lights in the
whole area went out and the SEB's automated message system said they apologised
but they could be out for two to three hours. By now the well rehearsed team swung
instantly into action, candles were lit and mulled wine (heated over camping
stoves) was handed out. Once more we had a full house who dined by candlelight
while Kamil from Slovakia entertained the guests, singing and playing his
accordion. When the lights came on at 9pm (3 hours exactly), shouts went up to
turn them off again!! A great time was obviously being had by all.
