What next for Dusters?

So what next for Salcombe's Dusters restaurant? Any takers?

£50k seems incredibly cheap for this prominent and well established restaurant? In my view it isn't what it used to be back in days of Harry and his jazz trio or the far distant days of MH, but it still gets packed out in the summer.

I am sure that someone with focus and/or a background as a restaurateur could take the turnover above the current £150k (£36k profit) and make a decent living? Granted the winter months are tough but get it right and it could be busy Thurs through Saturday surely?

Restaurant aside what would you like to see Dusters become? Salcombe could probably do with another clothes shop or an over priced tat shop...

For me, I'd love to see it become a family friendly restaurant that does the basics well and doesn't leave you feeling ripped off or short changed.

and you...what would you like to see it become?

Salcombe History Society

This is a great site for seeing the past characters and history of Salcombe. Originally started on Facebook there were so many photos that it spawned The Salcombe History Society.

This is well worth an hour of so of scrolling through the photos and seeing how Salcombe has changed over the years.

Enjoy!

So Disappointing...

I was excited in the run up...I had a table booked, the tide would be in and I'd heard good things about The Island Street Bar...

I arrived and the bar looked stylish and very different for Salcombe, the view across the water to the meadows and beyond was great, I had a lovely cold beer and the menu looked exciting.

My excitement was gradually sucked away...the service was absolutely appalling, we waited over 50 minutes between starters and main courses and it wasn't even that busy. Our wine just about managed to be served with our main courses, but we were almost finished. A steak had to be sent back as it was "blue" when it should have been "medium"...

As for my food, the starter was fantastic, Crab Chowder, very very good! But that is where the praise stops. My main was, at best, average and it was most definitely an utter rip off; Sea Bass, £17.50...OK I agree that is what you would pay in most places these days, however, in most places you would get the whole fish or 2 or 3 fillets but Salcombe being Salcombe I got 1(!!) exceedingly small fillet. I was gobsmacked, 1 fillet and a few green beans for £17.50! What nonsense.

The final disappointment was not being able to fit in a desert and coffee despite being there for 2 hours...in the end we gave up got the bill and left.

My enthusiasm for what should have been a great restaurant had disappeared and I was left feeling, that the food was over priced, the service was utter rubbish but most importantly I was still HUNGRY!

North & South Sands, Salcombe's Hidden Gems

Just how far has North Sands come in the last 2 to 3 years! South Sands has always been the nicer of the 2 "sands" with its golden beach and smart hotels, but just lately North Sands has really come to the party.

The Winking Prawn is one of my favourite places in Salcombe. The outside food is great and the summer BBQ is unbeatable! If the sun is out this is the place to be for food, beer or a coffee. The kids love the dressing up box and the huge beach at low tide, whilst the adults can relax knowing their kids are pretty much as safe as they can be anywhere these days. There is a green for balls sports and tennis facilities behind the WP.

One noticeable recent change are the houses overlooking North Sands; Sand Hills Road has always been up market and pricey but the once dowdy North Sands now has some amazing properties including one of Salcombe's finest; the large and well designed wooden/glass combo sat proudly behind The Winking Prawn boasts some amazing views and sits sympathetically within its surroundings. Rumour has it that this build was originally commissioned by the guy who ran off with Robert Maxwell's pension fund...or something like that?!!?!?

There is a burgeoning water sports scene and you can even get a half decent surf at North Sands or if you are brave and the conditions are right you can paddle out to The Bar where the waves really jack up if there is a nice low sitting over The Atlantic/English Channel, SUP's are also a common sight in summer. Messing around in the surf on a kayak is also great fun.

If you want a quieter beach then Splat's Cove is only a short walk and a bit further along the coast path you can access Starehole Bay beaches at low tide. For the more energetic there is a great run from Bolt Head to Bolberry and back along the old coach road to Malborough finishing with a great off road section bringing you down the bridal path into the back of North Sands.

If you take what North Sands has to offer and the look at South Sands with it's superb water sports school, great new hotel and the lovely beach then it's a hard place to trump when the sun is out. If I was a visitor I would ditch town and it's overcrowded streets for the calm serenity of the North/South Sands oasis. There are some great summer rental properties at all levels of budget.

It's even great in winter when you can watch the waves crashing over the beach wall when the SW gales blow in.

Salcombe just gets better ad better!

What does Salcombe mean to you?

I was sitting in the sun a few days ago thinking about times past in Salcombe and how many people, like us, think Salcombe is the best place in the world. I ended up trying to put together my "Top 5" list of things that Salcombe will always mean to me:

Here goes...

1. Rocking nights, courtesy of "Bob" at the Ferry, during the early 90's, when everyone knew everyone and you'd never here a cross word as copious pints of snakebite and black were seen off; Don Mclean belted out "American Pie" from the juke box and the night ended with pizza and pasties when the bakery opened as the pubs shut.
2. Sailing Optimists on Tuesday nights at cadets, and being stupidly excited when the wind blew hard. Followed by coke and crisps at the Yacht Club whilst your parents sank a few beers.
3. Still having as my best mates the friends I made at Salcombe Primary School and all still meeting up every summer in Salcombe, even though many no longer live in Salcombe.
4. Playing volley ball all summer during the holidays on Smalls Cove, there was never a day when the volley ball net wasn't up! There seemed to be a lot more sun back then!
5. The unbeatable beauty & tranquility of sitting on Small's on a summers evening with the tide full in and the beach gradually emptying as the wind dies and the estuary becomes a mill pond.

Roll on summer!!!!

What does Salcombe mean to you...

More Social Housing?

I have just found out that not only is The Crofts still a very possible site for the new social housing being pushed on us (but not needed), but Malborough is also about to have a new batch of houses built which will only be sold to residents of Salcombe and Malborough!!

Am I missing something or are there hoards of people roaming around Salcombe with nowhere to live? Are there caravans lining Batson creek and filing up the park and ride? Are the camp sites full all year round? Are they being built to help house the all people needed to fill the thousands of job vacancies sitting empty and paying £30k a year?

This is all madness, where is it going to end, will it take the destruction of the Salcombe that we know and love before these ridiculous decisions are seen for what they really are??

Salcombe's Old Vinery for Sale

Is this perhaps going to be the finest house in Salcombe? That's a big call with some of the magnificent properties recently built or some of the fantastic original buildings that have been rennovated...

With planning for a boat house and your own (already existing) private battlement water side garden it doesn't get much better than this!!

At £4.5 million before you even begin to consider what you will do with your new purchase it's going to take some serious money to buy this plot and build your dream home! However, knowing Salcombe's amazing pull it will be snapped up by someone.

Apparently it hasn't been on the market for 100 years!

Have look for yourself...

You could, if money is tight, just buy the boathouse and battlement garden for a mere £1.1m and leave the £3.5m house to someone else. Dilema's dilema's...

Council Tax Rise for Salcombe Second Home Owners

There are proposals afoot to increase the "second home owner" council tax rate from 90% to 200%!

For the life of me I can't see why this makes any sense at all? We have established time and time again on this blog that second home owners are now an integral part of the Salcombe economy, given this why would the council decide that it is a good idea to make them pay more. Surely paying 90% makes far more sense as less resources are used due to the very nature of the property being a "second home".

All I can see happening is the more astute second home owners reclassifying their second homes as "businesses", renting them out for 3 or 4 weeks a year and paying even less tax.

It's not far short of being as ridiculous as a recent proposal (nationwide) to charge more council tax for houses with sea views!!!

Comment Moderation

Just a quick note to let you know that I have had to turn on the "Comment Moderation" functionality due to the high level of spamming recently seen on the site. Please be assured that this site will remain an open forum for all your views and comments no matter what they are...

Best Regards
OODevon

Salcombe Property Shrugs off Recession

Salcombe seems to have come through the property decline without taking too much of a hit. In fact there seems to be a renewed confidence as building plots once again become active.

The current re-construction of "Underdecks", over-looking Salcombe harbour from Cliff Road, is amazing. The original building changed hands for £2m and if you just go for a wander and watch what they are doing you can't think the renovation costs come in at much under £500k if not more! Apparently the renovations include a boat lift to bring the boats up the cliff!!!

The top 2 second home hot spots are Salcombe and Kingswear, with the South West in general taking the top 2 spots in the list.

Top 10 rural and coastal second-home hot spots:

1 South Hams 9.8%
2 North Cornwall 9.6%
3 Berwick-upon-Tweed 9.5%
4 North Norfolk 9.1%
5 Penwith 8.5% 2,647
6 South Lakeland 7.2%
7 Scarborough 7.2%
8 Purbeck 6.9% 1,469
9 Great Yarmouth 5.9%
10 West Somerset 5.7%

New Bar for Salcombe

Salcombe will have a new bar/grill from Easter this year. The old Oyster Shack is currently becoming "Island Street Bar & Grill" thanks to Mark form the Winking Prawn. The bar sounds like it will be a decent place with a juke box and live music and hopefully not too "Rupert & Henrietta" in ambiance!

If this place is up to the standards of the brilliant Winking Prawn then it could be a great addition to Salcombe.

The new web site will be here soon: www.islandstreet.co.uk

Salcombe Disaster Waiting to Happen

The anger surrounding the proposed development on the Shadycombe Crofts in Salcombe is growing. A Facebook group has been started, which those of you with a Facebook account should join..

The stark reality of what we are facing is outlined perfectly on the Facebook site by 2 photos, one of The Crofts as they look now and one with housing superimposed on it...

See for yourself the incredible impact the housing could have on a magnificent landscape.

The Crofts now...


The Crofts of the Future!!!!

Social Housing in Salcombe with 40 Empty Homes??

A recent report has shown that the South Hams has 600 vacant properties; 40 of these are in Salcombe. If this is the case then why do they need to build 30 new affordable houses? I can't for one moment think that these empty houses are in the high price ranges!?!?

The question that needs to be answered is WHICH are the vacant houses and WHY are they vacant? Are they derelict? They can't be second homes? What classifies a vacanct house as long term vacant? Are these houses not owned?

Surely these questions must be answered before any affordable homes are built or even given planning permission!!

If anyone knows which houses these are then let me know via the comments and between us we can try to put together the list and send it to the town council for comment.