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Cod almighty

Pup commercial property agent, Tom Strawson of Heb, just can't seem to get away from home. The young troubadour of the Nottingham property scene who recently acted on a deal for The Moleface Pub Company has opened an upmarket fish shop in Wollaton called The Cod's Scallops – a subject Tom knows a fair bit about.

He said: "We identified that this was a fantastic location for Moleface’s first venture into takeaway food. It is close to The Wollaton pub which Moleface has ran successfully for a couple of years. Moleface gained an A5 lease for a takeaway in this precinct of shops which is a busy area of Wollaton. Being Grimsby-born, and therefore a fish and chip connoisseur, this was a project close to my heart!"

See you at Steel’s in Cleethorpes Market Place, Tom. The jumbo haddock and chips is on you.

Fright night

Frank Drayton and Shirley Phillips have more than twenty years experience at the Galleries of Justice Museum between them and there’s not much that they don’t know about the historic Shire Hall in the Lace Market... and its previous inhabitants.

They will be playing their part over this half term, Shirley will be tried as the Wicked Witch of Sherwood Forest and Frank will be amusing his audience with his own unique brand of children’s story-telling. They have been entertaining children and their parents with their tales of Nottingham’s horrible history and the museum’s gruesome past for years and now they have their own place in the chronicles of Nottingham’s most popular visitor attraction. We're not being funny, or anything, but Frank and Shirley look far too nice to be scary.

Dark ages

When the power went out over Derbyshire last week, it was a case of 'watts up' as one award-winning hotel drew on some old fashioned ‘Dunkirk Spirit’ to ensure it was business as usual for its guests. East Lodge was subject to the power cuts that plunged the Peak District into darkness but staff rallied round to ensure guests still had a stay to remember for all the right reasons.

"We don't let the snow stop us, so we certainly weren’t going to let a power cut close East Lodge down," said East Lodge deputy managing director Iain Hardman.

"We channelled a bit of 'can do attitude' instead and all the staff and guests ensured it was a case of 'keep calm and carry on'."

Hundreds of candles illuminated the former hunting lodge, recalling days of old and on Wednesday evening a cold buffet was arranged in the restaurant – bringing an all new meaning to the term candlelit dinner. However, the hotel was determined that the award winning breakfast would still be served, power or no power and it was – courtesy of a camper van in the grounds.

Hotel owner David Hardman's own van was drafted in to ensure that guests would still receive their hot breakfast and the improvisation was a great success – if a challenge for the East Lodge chefs, who had to swap their new £250,000 kitchen for a camper stove for the day.

"It was important for us to keep the home fires burning and soldier on and we did just that," added Iain.

"Unsurprisingly the blackouts forced many businesses to close but it is our policy never to let our guests down if we can avoid it. Dinner by candlelight was an amazing experience and we hope added to the atmosphere of East Lodge for our guests as much as us. We are all very thankful to see normal service resumed to focus on recharging our visitors’ batteries rather than our own."

Makes you feel proud to be British, eh?