A 'wow!' moment in the Apex

No, not a band, singer or performance of any kind.  I have just returned from a visit to the Apex with my daughter, to view her son's painting on display along with  dozens of pieces of artwork from local schools. For some time I have avoided using the word 'stunning' as I associate it with cliched comments from reality (or no-relation-to-reality) TV shows. Today I could not contain myself and the word rolled off my tongue every minute or so. Stunning, stunning, truly stunning! I refer of course to the general standard of artwork produced by local schools and not just my grandson's piece (although that of course made me very proud).  I know comments along these lines have been made before, but I would urge anyone, art-minded or otherwise to go the the Apex to see for yourself  how talented our young people are in Bury St Edmunds - and how inspirational their teachers must be (I recognised two of my ex-colleagues on display the moment I arrived).  It's all a far cry from my 'daffodils' with a reception class  yesterday, but you can see how the progress the students make in their teens is phenomenal.  I can think of no good reason why anyone should want to go further than this town - although I'm well aware the same is probably true in other towns, for artwork to decorate their homes or businesses.

I'm not an art snob. I've twice visited the Tate in St Ives (the second time to see if it really was as boring as I remembered) and found nothing there to excite or inspire me.  That was not the case today. One 3-D piece by a St Benedict's student was - here comes another cliche, awesome.  In truth it was somewhat dark and melancholy too, but nevertheless, it made me want to rush over to Denny's to gather up materials to try to reproduce something similar myself.  I resisted the temptation knowing I'd just end up with a mess of canvas and paint (stick to daffodils, Jules).

Sharing my table at the Apex

It is such a great idea to have such a wide variety of art by local children on display in a central venue.  And if it continues, I have a really good reason to have a daytime coffee at the Apex (not to mention it's one of the cheaper venues for beverages in town).   I found it a privilege to sit in such as relaxing environment surrounded by so much talent.  Other venues - take heed!

The Coffee House, Bury St Edmunds

On a miserable, wet Sunday afternoon, my friend and I received a very warm and sunny welcome from the couple who run this new coffee bar in Bury (top of St John's Street).

Barbara and Luk (spelling??) are from Poland and they certainly seem to know their stuff when it comes to coffee. They were able to explain to me why much of the coffee I buy from cafes these days tastes what I have described as 'plasticy'. If you want to know why go in and ask them. Unfortunately I didn't get to really taste their coffee as I fancied an espresso with ice-cream (affogato?), and there you only get a mild coffee taste.  But I will certainly go again. Within minutes, Barbara was like an old friend. She makes all the cakes and sweets in the cafe, and Luk - unobtrusive and constantly busy behind the counter is a trained barista. Their herbal teas - purchased from the nearby deli, smell beautiful.

I really hope this venture works for them. They deserve it and these are the sort of businesses that should flourish in Bury. I can never remember the name of ... goodness what is it called......?

Oh yes, Starbucks. What a scruffy looking place that is - drab and in need of a good lick of paint. If I want to feel depressed I'll go in there. If I want to be cheered up, I'll go in to see Barbara and Luk (Luc) in the Coffee House, St John's Street.

St Edmundsbury Borough Council - Scores on the Doors

Get the ratings for local premises serving food ie shops, restaurants and other organisations by Googling the above and looking under 'list' on front page.   These are health and hygiene ratings only but enough to give a guide as how your favourite restaurant conducts itself in the kitchen and serving areas. For example, on the last check the Angel Hotel (2010) only received a rating of 3 stars out of a possible 5, where the St Edmunds Tavern (now gone) scored a 5/5 last year.  Pea Porridge earned a 5/5, as did a few other places but there are some surprises on the list - a couple of shocks as well.

Recycling - East Anglia's Children's Hospice (each)

This charity shop in St John's Street, Bury, not only takes in items and clothes to re-sell but also 'rags' type clothes and materials for recycling, for which they collect a fee direct from the larger recycling organisations. I can't say this often enough - please be careful who you place charity bags outside the house for.  There are many organisations who have well known charity names on the bags they leave but only give a small percentage of the proceeds to them.   Please, please, please don't give good clothes to such collectors. They could end up shredded. I believe it should say on the bag who receives what, but generally speaking if you know of a local charity shop  e.g. Heart Foundation, Cancer Research, Age Concern and so on, then the shop will benefit directly from the clothes etc that you donate if you leave the bags out for collection.

Today I walked into town specifically to deliver a bag of 'damaged' clothes to each but I did point out that there was a pair of young men's jeans in there with a small tear in, which they might be able to sell in the shop. They agreed - on the basis that many jeans are sold from shops like that

The Coffee Society

I really appreciate those cafes which offer a bit of a deal - such as drinks accompanying snacks at a reduced price.  It can make a significant difference to the cost of light lunches, afternoon teas or any other treat that takes your fancy, otherwise the costs of 'stopping for a coffee' can add up to silly amounts if it's a regular occurrence, particularly if you want something to accompany it. The cost of coffee alone is getting disproportionate - maybe even exploitative in some establishments. Take my last visit the Mill, in Sudbury. Two of us arrived before the others and ordered a cup of coffee and a 'mint tea' while we waited.  The cost of these were £4.80. Were they served on a silver platter or in any other way elaborate? No, they looked like this:

...... with the addition of a teapot and an unwashed (for sometime it seemed) milk jug. How can a place of this calibre ignore such basic hygiene?  That spoilt for me the meal that followed (not that a 'meal' as such did follow in the end, as the service was erratic and I wasn't going to wait any longer for a meal. I had a £5 bowl of soup instead).  In fairness to the Mill, the restaurant manager did take off the cost of the coffees - and also the cost of what one of my friend's ate (because it was in her words 'quite unpalatable').

This is a de-caff capuccino from a newcomer to Bury - Patisserie Valerie - or Val's Cake Shop.  This cost £2.70 if I remember correctly. I guess in the price of this you are paying for the decor of the place, but still, a decent cup (with decent coffee in it). To weigh up the experience of visiting there today I tried their Croque 'Italian style' which was tasty, but along with the vast array of cakes, not the healthiest of options.  Snacks here look good but many are carbohydrate and fat based (cheese or cream).  This is obviously a chain/franchise establishment so I doubt the menu will be modified much to suit the Bury St Edmunds tastes. Nevertheless the public will probably flood there as they do to other franchises because they    'generally like the look of the place' and in this case may be lured by the pastries.  Personally I prefer traditional cakes. Franchises can afford more outlay initially then and expect their customers to subsidise ongoing costs. The smaller (or more cosy) and cheaper independents often lose out to the rest. I noticed after leaving Val's today that the usually crowded RRGCH on Angel Hill was nearly empty. Hopefully their custom will be restored once the novelty of Val's wears off for the Bury population. I also noticed the Really Rather Good.... is applying for a drinks licence. I trust their wine will not be too expensive because I  want better value for my money than a cup of pot-luck coffee ( although I rather think the equivalent cup of coffee at RRGCH would cost around 30p less than the above).  Still, it's little wonder that people wanting to economise these days, cut back on drinking 'fancy coffees'.

The Stamp Hut Sticks it Out

The Stamp Hut sits pretty much alone in a row of vacated buildings.  It's sad to see so many empty units in town and there will be more and more if trends continue. It's appalling that the owner of the children's clothes shop 'Millie' in the Buttermarket had her business rates doubled for this year. Whatever is going on?

Beautiful pubs like the St Edmund's Tavern can't compete with chain restaurants for food unless they keep prices low - and quality amazing. After being initially impressed by The Bushel in St John's Street, I now hear the food there is not great these days.  These businesses lose the customers of the 'traditional pub' market (it's fantastic to see how well The Dove is doing) and then fail to find a niche of their own.  

I am quite beside myself to hear we are going to have a 'Zizzi's' in town - yet another pizza establishment. These fast food outlets are generally overpriced for what they offer (especially drinks) and yet still manage to fill up where smaller businesses do not. I remember when The Grid on Abbeygate Street was a special place to go in Bury but over the years has lost it's edge. I understand its days are numbered.

Of course some businesses just move but when the local business rates are so high they risk leaving empty units behind which will remain empty until those setting the tariffs see sense. Or a Sugar Hut moves into town?            

The Star, Lidgate

This has become one of my favourite pubs around Bury -  it's not as close as I would like (about 20 mins or so) but it's worth the extra drive for lunch or evening dining. I've been a couple of times for lunch so have not got around to trying their extensive menu, which is largely 'Catalan' in style  - and seemingly quite authentic based on what I have had so far.
The pub, which has apparently been described as 'the most perfect pub' in the Telegraph has huge log fires which give off the most lovely wood-smoke aroma adding to the atmosphere of this wonderful old building.
Unfortunately, we were not the only party to discover yesterday that the kitchen wasn't offering the complete menu (a chef short)  after we'd decided what we wanted,  so we had to choose from a 'two courses for £10 special menu. That was however very good value for money, if not as 'adventurous' as I would have liked. As is becoming the norm now, wine seemed a little pricey (but it was a white Rioja).
This has been an amazingly popular pub for sometime now and boasts many food awards. The pub may well live up to it's reputation without high prices (I had delicious sea bream dish there for £12.95) but I will need to go several times to finally make up my mind. What a hardship.