It’s that time again!

We have been very busy with a few things!! The restaurant seating area has been refurbished which includes new tables and chairs along with a brand new floor. We are currently waiting for a new refrigerated counter to be fitted for Ozzies fresh home made cakes. The restaurant has a new coffee machine (just like Stevensons Rocket) serving Latte’s and much more. We are even selling Panini’s, calamari, humous and pitta bread. I think you will love the changes. (All we need now is to get Ozzie smiling. All these changes and he is still miserable). 

Alongside refurbishing the restaurant we have also updated our linens department, where we have several brand new lines and cracking offers. Keep an eye on our adverts in the local papers. Again we have had new flooring and racking and we have received excellent feedback so far. 

We have just held a staff retirement party for Don in Hastings. He has been with us from the very start (1977). He came in the shop to get his sponsorship for West Hill Boxing Club (his passion alongside West Ham FC) and he never escaped. As I mentioned in my speech at his party, this will be the only time in his life he has got parole. 

He is going to be spending his retirement with his family in Spain (he always liked the current bun) and also spending his time in Essex.  What a life!! He is 80 years old in January and still packs a mean punch on the punch bag. He is a lovely man and it has been a pleasure working with him for so long. I wish him all the very best. 

I hope you like the photo of Handy Chair and a friend waiting for the bookies to open. Don’t they look happy.

We are now busy organising Christmas. This year we are launching the opening of our Grotto on the 22^nd of November and this year it is going to be extra special. Not only will we have our nativity set back with the real reindeer, calf, sheep, donkey and of course the main man himself( Father Christmas) we have purchased for this year a North Pole scene with animated figures which include polar bears, Eskimos and seals. You will also get the chance to visit Father Christmas’s workshop and see the characters making toys. Also on the opening day we will have a fun fair with free rides, hot dogs, burgers, rock, toffee apples, candy floss and a hog roast. 

What a day!! Do not miss it!! The grotto will open at 10.30am.

Regards 

Bob

Get Set for the New Season

Hi All

Long time no speak!! We have been rushing around all over the place. I have got to tell you Christmas was UNBELIEVABLE. 

The best ever.   For those of you that didn’t visit our Eastbourne store  your children and grandchildren missed a real treat, we had a great nativity set with a real donkey 2 sheep a calf a goat and our 2 lovely reindeer. We also had the main man Santa here in our grotto and his animated workshop. Mother Christmas was also here having breakfast with the children. This year will be even bigger and better as we have just purchased our own North Pole scene with moving polar bears, seals penguins etc. You wait and see it will be amazing and the kids will absolutely love it.

We are kicking off the year with our great garden promotions. At Easter we have the Easter Bunny in both stores Eastbourne on Good Friday and Hastings on Easter Saturday who will be giving out free easter eggs to the children. We also have the DGH hospital radio broadcasting live so come along and give your support for all those poor people in hospital. Last Christmas I visited the DGH with Mother Christmas and spoke to people who were unwell at Christmas. I came away very satisfied that we had given those poor people something to smile about.

I must apologise that due to the bad weather part of our Pet Store roof blew off so we had to close the Grooming parlour for 8 weeks. I am pleased to say that we are finally all back to normal and it’s great to have them back again.

We are shortly going to give the restaurant a face lift (hopefully we will manage to get a plastic smile for Ozzy). We are asking people to fill out a questionnaire with any suggestions welcome. The winner of this will receive gift vouchers worth £100. Please keep a look out on our website www.esk.co.uk . 

I am also delighted to announce that our website is being updated all the time and I hope you agree is vastly improved due to Kerri returning back from maternity leave after having her beautiful baby boy.

Regards

Bob

Out of Hibernation!

It has been a long cold winter.  The cold gets in my bones as I am getting old now so sorry for the hibernation on this blog. On a more cheerful note the sun is now out and we are going mad. This winter we changed compost suppliers which has been a very good decision. Many people have commented on the quality. Well done Westland!

In our linens department we have new textile designs which are on display in our room settings. We also have a great selection of cushions starting at 99p. We also have  beautiful designs of quilt covers and curtains. All the latest designs. Well done Handychair you have got a good eye.

Ellie has left our linens department to have her baby daughter. Good luck Ellie and Chris. Thank you Ellie.  Sandra Sam and Sue are still with us and doing a great job along with Megan and Jenny.

Over in Pets Pantry in Eastbourne we now have a new dog grooming salon called “Pugs in A Tub”. I would like to welcome Clare, Pete Amber Jay and Tricia who are all doing a great job. They did a great job on Vanessa, she looked 10 years younger! No seriously come and have a look you won’t be disappointed. Give them a try.

Famous Fred and his team have got the Garden Club up and running again. Every Thursday night its doing well beyond our expectations. We still have the freshest plants in the area at the best prices with knowledgeable and helpful staff. Sign up today it’s totally free, great value for money as always which is what you get at ESK. Remember the name that’s our game.

It’s great to see the car valeting boys busy again after seeing them brave the ice with their buckets in the winter. Those boys certainly earn their money. They do a very good job. Probaly the best in the area. Good luck Boys!

I now have a new girl called Keri helping with our web site and face book. She has been with us a few years and we never knew she had this talent (A great girl) She then goes and announces she is pregnant ! (I think there must be something in the water) Congratulations to Keri and Tom. Have a look at what she has done with the site at www.esk.co.uk and also take a look at us on facebook.

My job looks an easy one but if you only knew that David and I travel more miles than Alan Wicker. We recently travelled to Poland looking for garden products and came back with furniture! We then went to Lithuania and came back with nothing but a headache! It took us a day to get there spending over 4 hours at Copenhagen then flew on to Klapeida. We then had a further 30 miles to our hotel. We got up the next morning to go to the trade site only to realise that the emails we had received had hugely overstated the size of the trade show. (what a waste of time and money). We decided to go back to our hotel so we could change our flights to go home early. When we got to the hotel I went in to change some money for the taxi and when I came out the taxi had disappeared and the road had been blocked off by police cars. I have never seen so many plain clothes security guards. They pushed me out of the way, there must have been 30 large black cars with blacked out windows. One of the security guards told me to cross the road to a side street where I found David sitting in a Taxi surrounded by guards. We paid the taxi and scarpered. When we got back to the hotel we found out the Vice President of Lithuania, a Senior Government Official from Belaruse, a very high Ranking Officer from Russia and about 50 senior policitians were all staying at the same hotel as us! Security guarded the restaurant, the bar, the toilets and the lift. They were all very well dressed and were very fit and strong so we were very careful!. All in a day’s work and if it was easy everybody would do it. We managed to change our flights and flew home. All this to find new products.

That said I was in Porto Rico recently and ordered chicken where I was happily eating away and even remarked to the waiter that the chicken tasted good. He said that cock fighting was legal and we were having birds they had finished with. I didn’t eat anymore!

Take Care

Bob

Christmas is Coming!

Now for our next thing.  WAIT FOR IT. This week we have bought two reindeers, so this Christmas we will have reindeers from the 24^th of November until Christmas Eve. 

They will be here at 11 o clock and will go back to the farm at approximately 3.30pm. On the day we will be opening the grotto where the children will be able to visit Father Christmas and see our super animated work shop and the children will be able to come away with a present. All of this for just £5.00 

We will also be doing breakfast with Mother Christmas as from the 1^st of December where the children will be able to have breakfast with Mother Christmas, make a Christmas card to take home , have a photo with the reindeers and then go and see the main man Father Christmas himself and our super animated work shop AND take home a present. All of this for only £10.00. For this package you must book as numbers are limited.  Please contact Vanessa on vanessa.danbury@esk.co.uk to book.  Ozzie has also promised a smile for this special event. We’ll believe it when we see it!

Don’t forget to catch up on all the latest promotions on Facebook for  Pet’s Pantry.

Lastly we have some great new lines in store such as giftware, lighting ,clocks, mirrors and furniture. We have some very unique modern items. Come and have a look . The feedback so far has been very good . We also have some coats in store that are a real bargain. We are always on the look out for great new lines .

Take care

Bob 

Halloween

Hi Again

It’s all started again. We had the Halloween competition on Saturday the 27^th of October. I must say a huge thank you to all the parents and grandparents for all the effort and support for your involvement and ideas in getting the kids ready in their costumes. There were some fabulous entrants and costumes. Thank you. 

I hope the children got as much enjoyment and pleasure as we did. Our staff actually dressed up again this year for Halloween. James or should I say Jasmine looked amazing in his dress and size 11 stillettos. 

A real sight for sore eyes.

Well That was Summer!

Hi Again

It looks like the summer is over, if you can say we have had a summer that is! Our Halloween display is up, it looks fantastic and we have some superb products on sale. 

See our in store display by clicking here

On Saturday the 27^th of October we are holding a fun Halloween competition between 11 and 1 o clock. We have Charlie the Clown to amuse the children. There will be 2 classes under 8 and over 8’s. The first prize is £50. The second prize is £25. The third prize is £10. This year we are running a large range of costumes as well as the accessories and decorations. Come along and make it a great day.

We are now clearing stocks of quilts at silly prices. A single quilt is £5.00 a double is £6.00 and a King is £7.00, unbelievable , no wonder we have no money. 

Our Pets department is going great guns. We have got all our winter bird seed and fat ball deals in.  Fat balls 50 for £5.99 Other offers are: James Well- beloved £36.99 for 15kg across the range. The best around.  Whilst stocks last. 

Look at our website for these offers. We are now trying to put our new dog coat display in.It’s brilliant. We also have dog and cat stockings on sale and Christmas toys for your pets. I can’t wait to see them dogs in their hold-ups and them cats in their suspenders!!! 

This year we are encouraging different charities to bag pack (we love to help and support the community). You are all so generous. Twinkling stars raised over £600.00 pounds in one day.  Excellent news, well done.

There is no need to feel the cold this year. We have house coal on sale for £3.99 for 10kg. It’s cheaper than last year. Firebrand £4.99. Heat logs at £6.99. Kindling at £3.49. Traditional logs at £4.99. Firelighters at 69p for 14 and Ice breakers at £3.99.  We also will be stocking snow shovels and sledges.

We have Christmas stock arriving daily in store. Come and see our brilliant range of single and boxed Christmas Cards. Don’t forget our huge range of fireworks will be arriving in store next week. 

A crazy thought of mine. How do you think breakfast with Santa sounds? The kids come along and have breakfast with Father Christmas and get a present. Vanessa has all ready put her name down.  And as you know we have the Real Father Christmas. Let me know your thoughts. This year our Christmas Grotto and workshop will be out of this world.  It is double the size of last year with a brand new workshop in our Eastbourne store. A fabulous display. 

Hope to see you soon

BOB

Christmas has come early!

Hi Again

What a few weeks we have had. We must give a big round of applause to everyone who has taken part and been involved in the Olympics ...And I mean everyone from the planners to the builders (never thought that it was possible) Congratulations to those who competed and supported the whole event. We've definitely have got to be proud to be British!

Now we move on to CHRISTMAS. Yes that’s right at our ESK Eastbourne Store we are holding a CHRISTMAS WEEKEND ON THE 18th AND 19th OF AUGUST. 

Santa is coming to ESK for a holiday (well that’s what we have told him anyway). He is bringing his elves and his animated display.  Possibly the best you have seen. AND IT'S FREE. He will have his workshop and toymakers here making all the toys. The kids will love it they can come in and fill out a wish list and post it in Santa’s post box and see what the main man can do.  So come and bring your children along  11.00  till 3.00 on the 18^th and 19^th of August. Even the adults will enjoy it! probably the best Father Christmas around.  And remember it is all Free. 

After this we move on to Halloween, Fireworks and our Christmas Displays and products. This year we've probably got the best selection of Halloween products for miles around. We've really gone to town and have a large range of costumes and novelties. And of course the staff will be participating and dressing for the part (some of them won’t have to try too hard)

It has been one of the wettest summers on record and it won’t be long till we get our sledges and wellington boots out . The weather has gone mad and so have we!!!

It is my scouse nephew's birthday tomorrow and as a treat I have put an extra £10 in his Nan’s purse. Good thinking eh??!!

See you soon,

BOB