I remember years ago weatherman Michael Fish scoffing at a lady who had telephoned to say that a hurricane was on the way. Not many hours later a catastrophic wind hit the UK causing death and destruction over a huge area. Michael Fish of course gained a certain notoriety that has made him a popular event speaker ever since.

Another less famous academic once said that you couldn’t base a business model on weather. A truth perhaps, but tell that to a West Country farmer or the bloke selling ice-cream on a Cornish beach!

 You might now wonder what the weathermen are not telling us now as we model business. The last truly hot period that sticks in my mind is April 2007 in the lead up to the local elections. Since then we seem to have been dogged by long periods of cold grey skies with one dismal summer after another.

You really do start scratching your head when half way through May I have one of my Harbour Sports Paignton staff asking whether we can have the heating on! That evening shivering at home I almost flicked the heating switch.

The picture shows Paignton’s lovely beach on this Sunday afternoon which is in complete contrast to the previous Sunday when we had wall to wall sunshine briefly.

The question is as to whether we really have slipped into a semi-permanent cold climate and if we have what are we going to do about it in the South West.

One consequence of this note will probably be a heat wave for the next three months!

frank sobey

Do you remember Baldrick from the Blackadder series? Of course you do! Baldrick always seemed to have a cunning plan which usually turned out to be a little too ambitious or flawed in some way. Well Torbay Council has just produced, at considerable consultancy cost, a plan called the Torbay Harbour Authority Port Master Plan which hopefully isn’t too ambitious or flawed in some way!

With this in mind I’ve just been standing in the sunshine on the terrace at TJ’s The Restaurant by the Harbour in Paignton. Looking out of the harbour one thing immediately hits you and that is the lack of people. Today is wall to wall sunshine and this lovely little harbour should be humming, but it isn’t. Torbay’s Dutch consultants, Royal HaskoningDHV, had something to say about this is their fifty-nine page report.

. “Paignton Harbour is remote from the town centre, railway station and bus station which are all approximately an 800m walk. Walking routes between the harbour and town centre are numerous and poorly defined and cycling is entirely on road. Signposting is poor. At Paignton Harbour there is an existing multi storey car park which is currently underutilised.”

You can see why TJ’s Restaurant owners Christine Clayton and Heather Bruce are scratching their heads. Christine quipped “It’s bad enough that tourists find the harbour hard to find but many local people also don’t know that it is here!”

As I walked back to my car a local lady told me that she couldn’t understand why the harbour seems to have become remote from the town. “The harbour used to be such a busy place but now it seems hidden and a little lost.”

Well Royal HaskoningDHV have stated the obvious and hopefully this beautiful little harbour will soon become the beating heart of Paignton!

frank sobey

HARBOUR SPORTS is still open seven days a week on Paignton Harbour and still offering brilliant value for money as it always has done, but it needs new life! Frank Sobey and Julian Smith have been doing their thing for over 34 years which means it is time for others to fly the flag. The lease is up for sale and the business can be part of that offering. How good is that!

This has to be one of the best locations for a lifestyle activity in the UK and combining retail with an outdoor service make absolute sense. It’s how we kept the faith over the years with a watersports/lifestyle shop, sailing school, windsurfing school, speedboat and aqua-sausage rides, yacht charter and so much more including snow ski clothing hire with its own road-show!

What a great way to change a lifestyle by doing your own thing on one of the liveliest harbours in the West Country. The location makes it ideal for so many adventurous things from paddleboarding to coastal rock hopping whilst offering retail goodies for those with a little get up and go. It is the natural place to buy wetsuits, surfboards, kayaks, paddles, buoyancy aids, surf wax, snorkel kit, dive masks, colourful clothing, sunglasses and so much more.

The lease is being marketed by Bettesworths in Torquay and as the shop is still trading it means that there could be an almost seamless transition into the new age! What an adventure on the horizon. This is the time and this is the place. As they say at Harbour Sports “Live the Life!”

frank sobey

“No fishing into the harbour of from the end of the quays.” “No diving or jumping from this quay. Swimming in the harbour prohibited.” “Danger of falling. Do not climb on this wall.” “Torbay Borough Council Harbour Byelaws.” “Notice. No skateboarding or cycling.” “Danger: Slipway.” I counted over forty notices around the Paignton Harbour estate which coupled with endless road markings, railings and restrictive wires. What I didn’t see was anything that said “welcome!” or “Gosh we’re pleased to see you." But I don’t blame Torbay Council because we live in an age of litigation where any chance to claim is, as Lord Sugar suggested, is seized recklessly.

The “no diving or jumping from this quay” made me smile because we used to run along the harbour wall and leap out into the tumbling sea before swimming back to the ladder (now gone!) at the end of the east quay as the waves peaked!

Sadly we therefore send out mixed messages to holidaymakers and indeed locals. On the one hand we encourage folk to come and play and then on the other we find all the reasons for not.

If we want to make a difference and add vibrancy to life then let us find reasons for doing rather reasons for not! A start would be binning a few of this proliferation of warning signs and pointless street furniture.

Live the life.

frank sobey

Of course nothing stays the same and as the giant crane towers over what remains of the once leafy Fernham Woods to the north of Oldway Mansion that is an undeniable truth. Whilst redevelopment of the derelict retirement home was welcome few people realised that the cost was the total loss of the entire woodland. Fernham Woods was a quiet and pleasant place that had somehow escaped the chop until now. A large block of modern retirement flats will soon appear offering a slightly different urban horizon.

The lovely bowling greens and tennis courts will also be joining the ancient woodland and slip quietly into history as a new housing development rises from the rubble. New courts and another bowling-green will appear in another part of the gardens. Sadly this development is the cost of repairing the decaying Oldway Mansion which has simply become too expensive for Torbay Council to manage. A developer  will now metamorphose Oldway Mansion into a luxurious upmarket hotel which hopefully will bring new business to our battered local economy yet still allow public access to what is left of the landscaped gardens.

Now think about that huge crane towering over Preston. It seems to me that this could be Paignton’s answer to the giant Ferris wheel that spent the late summer on Torquay seafront. Why not make this into a new and exciting tourist attraction? Can you imagine the queues waiting anxiously on Manor Corner for their death defying bungee jump? The view from the very top will be simply breath-taking and for that brief moment you will be totally overawed by the beauty of Torbay.

That brief moment will soon pass as you find yourself rocketing toward terra firma at an unbelievable speed hoping that the bungee will do what bungee rubbers do best – stop you from joining the ancient woodland and slipping into a squishy history! 

frank sobey

One solution to the current Europe food scare?

I am not saying that it’s the total solution but nearly five years ago our partner Scan and Go attached Scan and  Go codes (QR codes) and a short code to a few of our food producers packaging.

This allowed customers to actually meet the food producer in an interesting way by video.  In short they made food packaging clickable.  It started with crab coup in Selfridges and then went on to include burgers in Waitrose, mussels in Tesco and organic sausages in various other high street outlets.

It was and still is a great success and the feedback from both producers and customers has been very positive.  By simply scanning the code or using the short code customers were taken to a mobile optimised website where they could meet the producer and watch a different video each day of the week explaining how the product was sourced and made. 

An idea before its time?  Yes.  But has it’s time finally arrived?

Scan and Go is now being used right here at Coffee Cup Training to deliver our courses direct into the palm of students hands.  Take a look at what they were doing five years ago right here.