Blog

posted Tue 8th Sep 2022 at 14:28

Updated tue 8th sep 2022 at 14:28

Let's support Ukraine

Welcome to the Behind the Bar blog. My name is Sean White and I’m the landlord of The Queen’s Head in Pinner’s historic High Street.
Along with my team I share the goings on at our busy pub which has sat proudly at the centre of the community since 1540.

I’ve never be afraid to stand up for what I believe in and stick my colours to the mast so to speak. You may have noticed that we are currently flying the Ukrainian flag to show our support for this awful illegal war that Russia (President Putin) has waged against a peace-loving democratic country. In our own small way, we are doing all we can to support the rights of these brave people.

Let us hope that the UK government can be generous in accommodating refugees from Ukraine, so that their families can enjoy the peace of our land.

The Queen’s Head does not stock any Russian products, all our vodkas are made outside the Russian federation including Smirnoff which is owned by Diageo (Owners of Guinness, Gordons Gins, Tanqueray, Johnny Walker whisky and Pimms) are brewed or distilled in the UK.

On the theme of equality and justice, we have recently celebrated International Women’s Day (8th March 2022) with various offers across a range of products. We proudly fly the Suffragette flag and decorate our notice boards with suffragette memorabilia.

Plans are ongoing to develop the rear of the pub to create a restaurant facility together with a walled garden. I will keep you posted on this as our plans develop more fully.

Following the awful pandemic we endured for the last 2 years, I wish all our customers good health and we are glad to welcome you all back.

Sean

posted Wed 15th Sep 2021 at 17:57

Updated wed 15th sep 2021 at 18:00

Christmas 2021

Christmas 2021

16th December 2021
Welcome to the Behind the Bar blog. My name is Sean White and I’m the landlord of The Queen’s Head in Pinner’s historic High Street. Along with my team I’ll be sharing the goings on at our busy pub which has sat proudly at the centre of the community since 1540.

It’s that time of year when you don’t really have time to read blogs, so I’ll try to keep it short.

Writing this gives me sufficient time to reflect on what a wonderful job, being a publican in this great community pub really is. Every day, I get a chance to see people from a diverse set of cultures, and an equally diverse range of professions and occupations, young and old, able and infirm, and all meeting and talking together. What an absolute joy.

Sadly, the Queen’s Head is not the microcosm of society we might all wish for, but it’s a good start. Christmas prompts all of us to think about a fairer and more equal world, and one where child poverty can be eradicated. Hopefully In the New Year we will see multinational companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon sharing that view about fairness and equality and deciding that the ‘right thing to do’ is to pay the same percentage of tax and national insurance as their UK employees.

Despite all the trials and tribulations of the last 16 months, the Queen’s Head will still forge ahead with its plans to extend the rear of the pub to create a new pizzeria with a walled garden. The plans for this have been completed and have been submitted to Harrow Council for their consideration. This project will create a much-needed pizzeria and will create four full time jobs. Keep an eye out for ‘Phillies at the Queen’s Head’ the latest restaurant on the high street offering pizzas, piadines, pasta and much more. Projected opening date is April 2022.

Our plans for the rear of the pub will not in any way affect the operation of the Queen’s Head as a traditional ‘wet led’ pub and its traditional look.

The past two years have been difficult for all of us. Let us hope that the worst effects of Covid -19 are seen to diminish and that eventually we can achieve normality, albeit in a more restrained manner, and that our friends and loved ones can thrive and flourish.

Thank you all for your continued support in these most difficult of times. I wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and a happy and successful new year.

Cheers

Sean

posted Sun 8th Sep 2020 at 00:20

When everyone is Irish for the day

When Everyone’s Irish for a Day

As a proud son of Irish immigrants to this country I’ve grown up with the St Patrick’s Day celebrations. It’s in my blood- literally.
It’s a day to have fun, be around friends and celebrate the best the Emerald Isle has to offer.
One of my favourite things about St Pat’s Day (this year on Tuesday 17 March) is that for 24 hours everyone has the chance to become Irish regardless of where they’re from.
It’s not just about marketing and using the green, white and gold, to sell more of the black stuff.
It’s a day which says a lot about Irish people’s nature. Inclusive, down to earth, mischievous and with a love of life and having a great craic!
In a world increasingly divided it’s great to have a focal point for people of ALL nationalities, sexualities and political peculiarities to come together and enjoy themselves.
We have Jameson’s Irish whisky on offer for £2.50, Guinness for £3.50 a pint & Baileys for £2.50.
So head on over to see us whether you hail from Cork or Calcutta, Galway or Ghana, Dubrovnik or Dublin! Everyone’s welcome.

Slainte,
Sean

posted Sun 2nd Sep 2020 at 18:36

Love is in the Air

Love is in the Air – for a While

My apologies for the recent gap in my blogs.
One of the things I really love about running a pub is you get to see people enjoying themselves.
Food, drink and good company – it’s a recipe for a great time when money, health, financial and other worries are suspended for a while.
The Queen’s Head is a love factory. There it is. I said it and I’ll stick to it and explain why.
With so much anger, anxiety and hate in the world right now it’s worth thinking about the things we love.
I’m blessed that I have a loving family, a job I adore and close friends.
I also feel very lucky to have a team of staff who are great to work with and feel like an extension of my family.
It’s always my goal to make sure that my staff are looked after well. That’s why I pay way above the minimum wage, invest in their training, going out for team dinners and making sure they all get free taxis home when they finish a night shift. We have also added a comprehensive mental health support package including live face to face counselling for all our staff, full or part time.
We’ve also introduced a great project called PerkBox which is a website for hospitality workers packed with discounts and freebies. The staff love it.
It seems only right to continue this love theme by telling you about what we have planned for Valentine’s Day.
We’ll be running a special offer of two delicious Barrel & Stone artisan pizzas, two desserts and a bottle of red or white house wine for £40.00
If that isn’t enough to get your heart racing then I don’t know what will.
So till next time keep loving, laughing and enjoying life.

Thanks for reading and pop in and see us soon.

Sean

posted Fri 24th Sep 2020 at 16:41

Dry January and all that!

Dry January and all that!

I know that many people did ‘dry January’ and from the feedback we have had, many have been converted to ‘going down the pub as usual’ but drinking alternatives to alcohol. This is all about choice. We now have a huge selection of low or no alcohol drinks, including the highly acclaimed Heineken Zero on draught.

Whatever you drink, you are always welcome at the Queen’s Head. It is a place of wellness, a place to talk, a place to relax and most of all a place to have fun.

We hope the bar and cellar refit does not inconvenience you too much. We think you will enjoy the improvement in quality with lower temperatures and improved taste.

A major feature of this bar refit is the contribution it will make to the environment. The new coolers, although capable of reducing beer temperatures to just below 2 degrees across all the lines at once will be 30% more energy efficient than the ones they will replace.

With Christmas over, I’m sure that we are all looking forward to the end of winter and the start of spring (3.50am 20th March 2020) Still a little way away, but we have Valentine’s day on 14th February and many other events to look forward to.

The Queen’s Head is very keen to develop a Café Society in the High Street, which is now dominated by hospitality. The High street need to look more continental, with tables and chairs outside on our wide pavements, with adventurous restauranteurs taking up empty shops. However, to achieve this we need a supportive local council to halt the decline of the high street.

There is no point in a pub describing itself as being the centre of the community, if it is surrounded with empty and closed shops with piles on unopened mail on their doormats. We see that the Vintage bar across the road is another victim of decline, although two local entrepreneurs are hoping to open it as a proper pub. This is something to be welcomed. With all this in mind I’m meeting with David Simmonds MP next week to discuss our ideas further. I’ll keep you posted.

posted Fri 4th Sep 2019 at 17:15

Sober October 2019

Hurrah for Stoptober

Welcome to the Behind the Bar blog. My name is Sean White, and I’m the landlord of The Queen’s Head in Pinner’s historic High Street.
Along with my team, I share the goings-on at our busy pub, which has sat proudly at the centre of the community since 1540.

Dry January has a rival, and we’re delighted.
Stoptober has joined the existing month of alcohol abstinence.
Another alcohol-free challenge powered up by people trying to raise money for charity or just having a break from drinking.
Stoptober’s roots lie in a move to give up smoking for good – a very worthy cause, and it’s now crossing over to people who drink.
And why are we celebrating this at The Queen’s Head? Well I’m a big believer that pubs have been and always will be about a lot more than drinking alcohol.
They are places we meet, talk, laugh, cry, moan, love, rejoice, sympathise, empathise and ultimately socialise with or without drinking.
And just because you are doing Stoptober and going sober for October doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the social side of the pub, especially now that the breweries are creating some fantastic alcohol-free (AF) options.
My current favourite AF lager is Heineken Zero, but it has a lot of competition from Peroni, Estrella Dam, Erdinger and Brew Dog, to name just a few.
We also can make fantastic AF cocktails or mocktails as fans have dubbed them. There’s Kopperberg and Stowford Press cider and a range of wines and spirits that are all minus alcohol but taste nearly precisely the same.
Gone or the dark days when the awful tasting Kaliber lager was the only alcohol-free alternative. The quality and choice of AF drinks now is incredible.
And why? The giant breweries realise people’s taste buds and habits are changing. People might not want to drink, for a week, a month or at all, but it’s an inbuilt part of being a human to want to socialise.
And the rise of the alcohol-free offerings helps people do that in a pub without feeling like the ‘odd one out’ for not drinking.
Thanks for reading and enjoy October whatever you are doing.
Sean
PS: I’m challenging people to spot the difference between several of the AF drinks we offer and their alcoholic counterparts. Pop in and see us during Stoptober to find out more.
ENDS

posted Thu 4th Sep 2019 at 17:36

Here Comes Summer

Here Comes Summer

Welcome to the Behind the Bar blog. My name is Sean White and I’m the landlord of The Queen’s Head in Pinner’s historic High Street.
Along with my team I share the goings on at our busy pub which has sat proudly at the centre of the community since 1540.

Wimbledon is on the television, Love Island is in the air and England have been knocked out of a World Cup. It must be British summertime.
For the record I don’t watch Love Island and I was very disappointed that the Lionesses lost in such an unlikely manner.
Our outdoor area is really coming into its own in this weather. The longer evenings really do bring our guests out which is great for business but also for that sense of community that we’re trying to achieve here at The Queen’s Head.
Some exciting news is that next week we have our wine tasting hosted by Paramount Wines Ltd on 11 July from 8.30pm
For just £20 a ticket you can enjoy an evening of wine tasting with reds, whites, sparkling and rose from across the globe.
Tickets are on sale in the pub but there are only a handful left so please be quick if you want them.
Remember to check out the website to our full diary of events or to find us on Facebook – our team work to make every visit to us one to enjoy.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the summer.

Sean

posted Wed 27th Sep 2019 at 15:24

Murder in Pinner

Our reaction to the brutal senseless murder in Pinner

Welcome to the Behind the Bar blog. My name is Sean White and I’m the landlord of The Queen’s Head in Pinner’s historic High Street.
Along with my team I share the goings on at our busy pub which has sat proudly at the centre of the community since 1540.
What started off as just a usual Sunday morning preparing for a busy afternoon took a horrific turn last weekend.
I was told about the murder of shopkeeper Ravi Katharkamar by one of our regulars who explained that the incident on Marsh Road was the reason the police had sealed off the road.
My initial reaction was absolute disbelief then deep sympathy for Mr Kathakarmar’s family.
Here was a hardworking man, simply going about running his business.
To be killed first thing in the morning for loose change in such a barbaric way is a truly awful, mindless waste of life.
The reaction among people in the pub was a stunned one. Mr Kathakarmar’s murder has shook the village to the core.
I cannot recall anything similar in my decades of living here.
As a local business owner, it has made me far more security conscious. And I know that is a feeling shared among other traders in the village.
I hope the police catch the offenders quickly and take them off the streets for a long time.
London has been plagued with lethal knife crime for several years now, but I never thought it would come to Pinner in such a devasting and heart-breaking way. Something must be done to cure this disease on our streets.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr Kathakarmar’s family and loved ones.
The only good that can come out of such a terrible thing would be for the community to unite and honour the memory of Mr Kathakarmar.

May he rest in peace.

Sean

posted Sat 9th Sep 2019 at 16:27

Valentines Day 2019

Love is in the Air – for a While

My apologies for the recent gap in my blogs.
One of the things I really love about running a pub is you get to see people enjoying themselves.
Food, drink and good company – it’s a recipe for a great time when money, health, financial and other worries are suspended for a while.
The Queen’s Head is a love factory. There it is. I said it and I’ll stick to it and explain why.
With so much anger, anxiety and hate in the world right now it’s worth thinking about the things we love.
I’m blessed that I have a loving family, a job I adore and close friends.
I also feel very lucky to have a team of staff who are great to work with and feel like an extension of my family.
It’s always my goal to make sure that my staff are looked after well. That’s why I pay way above the minimum wage, invest in their training, going out for team dinners and making sure they all get free taxis home when they finish a night shift.
We’ve also introduced a great project called PerkBox which is a website for hospitality workers packed with discounts and freebies. The staff love it.
It seems only right to continue this love theme by telling you about what we have planned for Valentine’s Day.
We’ll be running a special offer of two delicious Barrel & Stone artisan pizzas, two desserts and a bottle of red or white house wine for £35.00
If that isn’t enough to get your heart racing then I don’t know what will.
So till next time keep loving, laughing and enjoying life.
Thanks for reading and pop in and see us soon.
Sean

posted Mon 24th Sep 2018 at 15:54

Updated mon 24th sep 2018 at 19:28

Merry Christmas to our guests

Christmas

24th December 2018

Welcome to the Behind the Bar blog. My name is Sean White and I’m the landlord of The Queen’s Head in Pinner’s historic High Street. Along with my team I’ll be sharing the goings on at our busy pub which has sat proudly at the centre of the community since 1540.
It’s that time of year when you don’t really have time to read blogs, so I’ll keep it short.

Writing this gives me sufficient time to reflect on what a wonderful job, being a publican in this great community pub really is. Every day, I get a chance to see people from a diverse set of cultures, and an equally diverse range of professions and occupations, young and old, able and infirm, and all meeting and talking together. What an absolute joy.
Sadly the Queen’s Head is not the microcosm of society we might all wish for, but it’s a good start. Christmas prompts all us to think about a fairer and more equal world, and one where child poverty can be eradicated. Hopefully In the New Year we will see multinational companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon sharing that view about fairness and equality, and deciding that the ‘right thing to do’ is to pay the same percentage of tax and national insurance as their UK employees.
Thank you all for another great year, and one in which we won an amazing accolade as Greene King Pub of the Year out of 1200 UK pubs. I wish you and your family a very happy Christmas.
Cheers
Sean

November 2018

There's more to a public house than just drinking (13/11/2018 13:42:37)

October 2018

Trick or Treat? Halloweek at the Queen's Head (28/10/2018 15:35:31)

September 2018

Queen's Head crowned Greene King Pub of the Year 2018 (08/09/2018 17:18:22)

August 2018

Pinner Pride 2018 (29/08/2018 18:42:39)

May 2018

Award Winning Pub (04/05/2018 16:24:34)

March 2018

Easter Blog (28/03/2018 14:29:52)

Raise your glasses to the legend of St Pat (15/03/2018 17:45:59)

February 2018

Why we're proud to fly the Rainbow Flag (09/02/2018 14:02:29)

January 2018

More than just a pub (07/01/2018 16:43:15)

December 2017

Christmas 2017 (15/12/2017 18:11:35)

September 2017

Hold the Front Page (01/09/2017 14:35:12)

August 2017

Pinner (We don't want new jobs) Association (06/08/2017 15:59:43)

June 2017

Pinner Pride (20/06/2017 17:26:11)

Father's Day 2017 (13/06/2017 19:31:10)

Election Day 8th June 2017 (02/06/2017 16:09:16)

May 2017

Let's Hear it For Archie (09/05/2017 19:18:24)

March 2017

When Everyone is Irish for the Day (11/03/2017 22:24:53)

January 2017

Love is in the air (27/01/2017 14:58:44)

November 2016

Trump, Taxes and Turning the Tables (11/11/2016 18:06:37)

September 2016

The Queen's Head in 2036 and Nigel Farage Dropping in. (22/09/2016 19:11:32)

August 2016

Win Win Win (24/08/2016 19:30:30)

July 2016

Post Brexit Pinner & Street Food (19/07/2016 19:29:32)

June 2016

Time to get smart (02/06/2016 15:19:35)

April 2016

Brexit (08/04/2016 18:22:18)

March 2016

Gin is IN (24/03/2016 18:09:18)

When Irish Eyes are smiling - Gaelic version (10/03/2016 18:48:52)

When Irish Eyes are smiling (10/03/2016 18:39:11)

February 2016

Appy hour(s) with Orderella (25/02/2016 18:21:25)

Love is in the air (10/02/2016 12:01:57)

January 2016

Greene King Beer Festival 2016 (28/01/2016 14:48:03)

Try January - Greene King exclusive Beer Festival (14/01/2016 18:46:37)

December 2015

Merry Christmas 2015 (18/12/2015 17:14:31)

October 2015

Fusing Technology with Tradition (01/10/2015 13:52:27)

August 2015

Education, Education ! Education ? (26/08/2015 19:53:27)

How close the UK came to banning booze (05/08/2015 14:54:32)

July 2015

Inspiration from Court 4 (15/07/2015 18:48:30)

The Demon Drink (06/07/2015 15:48:09)

Ghostly goings on (06/07/2015 15:47:05)

Psychic Sean predicts the future (06/07/2015 15:45:44)

The Queen's Head Manifesto (06/07/2015 15:44:24)

Reasons to be cheerful - Part 2 (06/07/2015 15:43:10)

Reasons to be cheerful (06/07/2015 15:41:54)

Welcome to the world of little Edward (06/07/2015 15:40:47)

Drinking and health (06/07/2015 15:39:05)

Christmas is coming and we can't wait (06/07/2015 15:37:48)

Calling time on poor pubs (06/07/2015 15:36:33)

Blogs, Dogs & Kids in Pubs (06/07/2015 15:35:12)

Use it or lose it (06/07/2015 15:33:11)