There has been a noticeable increase in people popping in and a sense of becoming established as Portal B has its first return customer and rep visit, postman's extra mile, new beer samples arriving, good response to existing beers and new plants for the Paget garden.
Postman’s Extra Mile
A perfect example of how nice people are in Great Yarmouth was demonstrated by the Royal Mail postman. Having been delivering to my new home address during lockdown he soon saw me working long days on preparing Portal B, particularly the Paget garden shifting from the home lab to the pub car park. The CAMRA beer guide arrived too big for my home letterbox so instead of leaving a card for me to collect from the sorting office, he brought it to Portal B to deliver. This is not only community helpfulness it is also community building, by saving me having to divert an hour of my time to go and collect the parcel and instead invest this time into building the business. Small acts often have important benefits.
CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2019
First Rep and Historical Record
One of the most unusual things about opening the Fourth Portal in Great Yarmouth over the last month is the lack of people coming to the door offering services, products or looking for work. Having opened many spaces across the South East my experience has always been that as soon as the key is first turned in the lock there will be reps from various companies popping in with their card, job seekers with CVs' and people offering services like window cleaning or decorating. This has not happened at Portal B at all. The representative from local brewer Lacons was the first to walk in to introduce herself and provide some fascinating insights into the pub and its history. She invited me to visit the Lacons museum that has photos of St John's Head going back to the beginning of the 1900s and will provide sample beer.
It is too early to say whether the lack of people offering their services is because of Covid-19, how Great Yarmouth is or, as some locals have said, "it's the Norfolk way". Time will tell.
Requested Samples from St Peter's Brewery, Bungay, Suffolk
More Plants Arrive
Gillian who owns the building and encouraged Fourth Portal to Great Yarmouth has been kindly nurturing cuttings and seeds all spring in advance of the James Paget garden for the rear car park, this arrived today and will be the task for Saturday morning repotting and setting out.
Gillian Nurtured Plants for Paget Garden
Returning Customers
The first returning customers came in today, one of whom worked on the pier for many years. They have a few days off and really like the place and atmosphere and just chilled and chatted for a couple of hours before wandering off. Always an encouraging moment in a new site when people come back.
Bristol Invitation
A group of young men all studying in Bristol walked in with beach towels around the neck after a hot day on the seafront and heading back to their moored boat they had hired from Norwich and sailed to Great Yarmouth. Lovely group who were attracted by the boards outside and immediately loved the concept and the layout. Very aware of themselves and the world and politics around them the conversation moved smoothly between technology, the world of work, changing attitudes (they are all vegetarians and not pleased with themselves that they are struggling to be vegan) and the future. They left after a couple of beers, they loved every single one, after trying to convince me to shift Portal B to Bristol, a town that has a 'fantastic range of bars and cafes but nothing like this'. A compliment indeed.
John