2010 proved to be another momentous year in the oh so colourful history of The Walls. Surrounded by commercial gloom and despondency that looks set to continue into 2011, we succumbed to a rush of blood and decide to branch out in a variety of different directions.
In response to an invitation from world famous furniture maker, Peter Vidal, the first of these new ventures is The Willow Cafe/Bar in the amazing & very cutting edge Willow gallery.
I’ve seen many familiar faces in the gallery & cafe but if you’ve not paid it a visit yet there is a brand new exhibition of high quality, diverse works, displayed with real skill. The exhibition is there for the next two months. The gallery would not look out of place in London or Milan and praise for it has been universal.
We are also really proud of our Cafe/bar- fully licensed and serving fantastic coffee, really well made cakes, biscuits and interesting savoury offerings everyday from 9.00 a.m. until 6.00p.m.- it has a very modern feel. Closed on Sundays until Easter.
So far in its brief history, we have hosted some very successful events including a fantastic fashion show. There is another one soon, 11th of February, again hosted by the very professional and efficient Suzanne Younger. Tickets are available from the gallery shop & cafe.
The gallery is a special asset for the town and we really hope that you’ll continue to use and support it. The gallery and cafe are also available for events during weekday evenings.
To make better use of our licence and the lovely space we’ve created, from 12th of February we are going to open the cafe/bar on Friday & Saturday evenings. First night is Saturday the 12th Feb.
We invite any local musicians (strictly acoustic only), who’d like to come and hone their performing skills, with the opportunity to pass round a hat, i.e. ‘Indoor Busking Nights’, to contact us to arrange a date.
We’ll extend our range of beers and wines, turn down the lights and feature a simple & special array of “Tapas” style foods to complement your drinks. This will be a very civilised and controlled environment.
Being fascinated by words and the fun you can have with them all but backfired on me when it came to thinking of a catchy name for the next phase of our commercial expansion. I thought I’d been frightfully clever in thinking of a name for the wine shop, hidden up an alley, that was also a flimsy onomatopoeic reference to over consumption of drink.
Little did I realise the storm of self righteous indignation I’d cause, until the phone rang and an extremely fluffed up and flustered lady began firmly & politely berating me about my lack of propriety (not much of a shock to me) and continued on to explain in no uncertain terms that there was ‘No way on God’s earth’ that a family newspaper could print a licence application notice for such a wickedly named business. Far be it for me to name and shame, even in my humble rag, but it wasn’t The Advertiser!
Apparently, apart from refusing to print my much needed notice - upset person had also taken it upon herself to telephone the licensing department to voice her concerns and seek guidance on her dyslexic dilemma. Suffice to say that somehow (and unusually) sense prevailed, the impasse was resolved and in due course the much needed licence arrived. Rest assured there was an array of even more alarming names waiting in the wings if we’d failed to get Pssssst! past committee.
Anyway, open we have and the first month has been a gratifying start. The premise for the shop is that we only stock wines that I rate highly and know well. They all have something special about them. Wine tasting is such a minefield but rest assured that nothing gets into the shop without a serious amount of testing. They all have something special about them.
One of the key differences about buying wines from Pssssst! is that apart from the eye-wateringly expensive bottles and with the aid of some really high tech equipment, most of the wines are available to taste either as a free mini sample or a proper 125ml. tasting measure @ £3.00 a go.
Apart from a concise range of wines we have most of the range of the amazing Chateau Montifaud Cognac, Camille Saves champagnes, excellent sloe gin & whisky from Sloe Motion, ports from Niepoort and a decent range of high quality wine paraphernalia, glasses, decanters, funnels, aerators, etc.
Pssssst! is a great place to find special presents for special people. The list, you’ll not be surprised to learn, is very much a moveable feast and the published prices are for single bottles with generous discounts if you buy even more than one bottle.
The night of Monday the 14th of March sees our first tasting night, all welcome at the shop & gallery from 6.30p.m. All orders placed on the night will qualify for a 10% discount. We are in no way setting out to compete with the supermarkets or Bargain Booze, but if you need a special bottle of something impressive, spoiling or interesting, you’ll find it at Pssssst!
A brand new re-launch of a much wider range of wines including some rare old gems surgically removed from The Walls wine cellar will take place week commencing 7th of February and an updated list will be emailed out ASAP.
Walls gift vouchers are also acceptable currency at Pssssst! Come along and see us soon.
So several 1000s of words later, we’ve not even mentioned The Walls! 2010 was a good year and despite the best efforts of the recession, swine flu and global warming, resulting in the coldest, snowiest December since exaggeration began, we had a good Christmas and New Year.
We are clearly not immune to the impact of downturn in the economic climate. Every news station, newspaper and politician seems hell bent on re-enforcing the bleakness of our predicament and trumpeting the need for collective hair shirt wearing. What’s to do? When things are difficult, it’s even more important to put aside or ensure that there are special times and occasions to negate the gloom - and if you’re going out, you certainly don’t want to risk your hard earned cash on a potentially ‘iffy’ occasion. So rest assured that we’ll be trying even harder than ever to bring you good food, simple service - and an all round good time in a value for money package.
I’m sure that you’ll not need reminding that every time you spend £10.00 with us, £2.00 of the money goes to H M Revenue & Customs and not into my trousers - perish the thought! It might explain why for the nth year in a row my order for an Aston Martin is on hold. Seriously, like all businesses we expect things to be difficult this year and hope to continue to deserve your generous support.
QUANTITATIVE EATING
In an attempt to join in with the glorious jargon-ridden nonsense that’s fashionably used to make the mess created by a handful of “ Merchant Bankers”, we’ve come up with our own entirely bonkers version of the money printing activities of The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street (Bank of England).
Any bill that averages out at more than £30.00 person, we’ll give a £5.00 voucher for each member of your party. The vouchers can be redeemed at both The Walls and Psssst wine shop. This offer/scam is only applicable to day-to-day business- i.e. not parties, weddings or private functions. Vouchers will be valid until the end of August.
LITTLE RED BIRD & LIT FEST 2011
The gloriously-named man-about-town, Mr. John Wayne, has worked his magic again and nailed together an even bigger & better Lit Fest than last year. Always keen to climb aboard a covered bandwagon we are playing host to Little Red Bird, again. This show was sold out last year. This years date is March the 12th and the show will be in the gallery. Ring John on 07972 113619 for details.
On March 20th, The Walls will be playing host to ‘HONK’ a family musical theatre workshop with Debbie Glenn. Free entry, 3pm-6pm in the Cae Glas room. Again, please call John for more info.
ART FOR ARTS SAKE
A show of the work of 3 local artists at The Walls:
Jilly Hartshorn
Robert Lawton
Mark Evans
28th Feb to 3rd April
The Gallery
Continuing its ongoing celebration of the Willow as a location and wealth of artistic inspiration, the gallery presents it’s first photographic exhibition from March 5th – March 29th.
Outside Insight is a documentary of our relationship with the exterior world, bringing over six photographers from across the country and images from across the globe to our gallery here in Oswestry.
Stained glass demonstration on Thursday March 24th in Willow Gallery. Please contact Faye on 657575 for full details.
PAUL RUSHTON
It was with great sadness that we learnt of Paul’s death a few days before Christmas. Paul was a true “one off” and I’ll not be alone in missing him greatly. Our deepest sympathy goes to his wife Brenda and children, Christian, Becky and Anna. There is a little less mischief & colour in the world without him and that is not a good thing.
VALENTINE’S NIGHT
12th and 14th February ~ £30 per person
Inc. live background music
(£10 deposit required to secure space on 14th)
Those of you desperate to improve your rating and standing with the love of your life (current, future or past), had better get organised and book your table for two at The Walls. This year and I hardly dare mention it, there are two bites at the cherry, (and if you can’t polish of a cherry in two bites, clearly there’s something wrong), firstly on Saturday the 12th and then on the day itself, the Monday.
As usual we’ll be offering a ‘tongue-in-cheek, all-in-the-best-possible-taste’ menu. We are always full and this year we’ve enlisted the musical help of “The Crooner of Burlton”, my long suffering friend and part-time plumber Keith Clements. Some of you will remember him from showcases and his successful one man Sinatra show. His repertoire of cheesy love songs is not to be missed and he’ll be ably supported and distracted by the ravishing Gaynor on the piano. How could you miss it?
For the next two weeks, you will be able to post messages of love and remembrance in the window of the Willow Café. A large 8 foot heart, constructed by Peter Vidal and painted by local artist John Woodyatt, suspended from ceiling and is waiting to be filled with small hearts and messages of love. Costs £2.00 to hang per message – proceeds to be donated to Lingen Davies Cancer Relief fund and The Heart foundation.
It’s been a long time in the offing but finally enough momentum has been created to stage the next in the series of our ever popular and hugely fun Showcase nights. The brainchild of the much mourned genius, Andy Leake and on the 4th anniversary of his untimely & shocking death, the show will be a fitting tribute to him. The date for your diary is 28th of April.
The usual cornucopia of worthy local talent, some new, some familiar will have been licked into some sort of musical shape by the unlikely partnership of the aforementioned “Crooner of Burlton” Keith and local, world famous horse whisperer and podiatrist, Andy’s best mate, Mr Tom Bowyer. (You couldn’t make this stuff up).
A terrific two course dinner precedes the show and the evening is a frightfully reasonable £25.00
Main Courses:
Brisket of beef, onion sauce & dumplings
Chicken, smoked sausage, ham & mushroom pie
Sweet potato, pumpkin & spinach curry, rice & poppadom Vegetables & potatoes
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So far in its brief history, we have hosted some very successful events including a fantastic fashion show. There is another one soon, 11th of February, again hosted by the very professional and efficient Suzanne Younger. Tickets are available from the gallery shop & cafe.
Anyway, open we have and the first month has been a gratifying start. The premise for the shop is that we only stock wines that I rate highly and know well. They all have something special about them. Wine tasting is such a minefield but rest assured that nothing gets into the shop without a serious amount of testing. They all have something special about them. 
Pssssst! is a great place to find special presents for special people. The list, you’ll not be surprised to learn, is very much a moveable feast and the published prices are for single bottles with generous discounts if you buy even more than one bottle. 
