This is the pub in the early 1900 when it was called The Fisherman's Arms.
There are parts of the pub dating back to the 14th Century. Here is The Start Bay Inn in the 1950's. At that time it used to let rooms.
The inside looked like this.
Paul and Fay Stubbs moved from Grimsby to take on the Start Bay Inn in November 1977
By February 1978 a storm had wrecked the village, washed away the Start Bay Cafe and they wondered if they had made a massive mistake.. This is Fay walking towards the camera just after giving birth to their third daughter Gail
The pool table almost ended up in the Ley. Paul was amazed that the local kids found every single pool ball and returned them to him.
There was no seawall in those days so the waves just broke onto the front of the buildings along the seafront
The houses along the seafront were seriously undermined.
The clearing of the road took days
The village was worse for wear, plans were made eventually, after much lobbying to central government, to protect the village by building a sea wall.
The foundations and piles went in first
There was a lot of disruption and the restoration of the damaged houses along the seafront was finished well before the sea wall was there to protect them
The sea wall was completed in 1980
In 1980 The Queen came to Torcross to check the progress of the sea wall and Clair was one of the lucky brownie's to present her with a posy
Snow didn't come to the village often but using local suppliers helped keep things ticking along in stormy conditions
Helen, Clair and Gail, Paul and Fay's children lived in the pub with Paul's mother Alice for 8 years while Paul and Fay built up a good reputation for fresh fish and handsome portions
They enjoyed a lot of freedom growing up and always knew Mum and Dad were not far away.
Paul and Fay behind the bar stealing a moment for each other.
Alice and Fay behind the bar in the 80's. New Year always involved fancy dress and a knees up and still does.
Paul had a love of diving and fishing which complemented the menu at the pub perfectly
"Watching Dad disappear under the sea didn't get easier when we used to boat cover. We would follow his bubbles in the boat and pick up his bags of scallops which he sent to the surface in nets with air filled bags".
More than enough for the hungry summer crowds
Our job was then to 'shuck' them out of their shells with jagged knives, rinse them off then they were ready to serve to the customers.
Live Dartmouth crab is dropped at the back yard gate.
Paul and Fay cooked it and picked it out.
Picking crab continued through the generations.
Preparing the fish and serving it became a family tradition.
Twenty years later Clair served fresh lobster from the bay
When we are lucky to get them Lobsters are landed in Dartmouth from Beesands fishermen and dropped live at the back yard gate for us to cook
The next generation of workers, Clair in her uniform with the logo she designed while at art college.
Gail learning to pull her first pint with Paul's supervision in the early 1990's
The third generation happy to help on Christmas day and two of them already on the rota in school holidays since 2020
When Paul wasn't under the sea he was often on it fishing.
The cats got the pollock in those days, Paul was chief Bass catcher and still is.
A good catch for an afternoons work
Pulling the sand eel net involves more strong family members. The sand eels are used as live bait to catch Bass.
You don't know if there are any sand eels in the net until its on the shingle ridge.
They are put in weighted boxes and stored underwater ready for a few days bass fishing
These days Paul has his nephew Gordon Stubbs as his right hand man.
Another good catch
Train em young!
Pulling our own crab pots was a team effort
The storms didn't give us too much trouble again until 2001 when the road was damaged and closed for 3 months.
The beach level was stable for 20 years. This is the beach in 2010 what followed over the next 10 or so years was hard to get used to.
Stuart joined the Start Bay family in 2001 and Paul and Fay tried to retire in 2006 though it wasn't a clean break!
In 2013 we even had time to enter an award and won Gold for Devon 'tourism pub of the year' and Silver for The South West. Paul and Fay had won the 'freshest fish award' and 'best fish and chips' awards years ago so we thought it might be in the family.
The storm of February 2014 did a lot of damage to houses along the seafront and the road was covered in shingle again.
Some houses lost windows.
Paving slabs were peeled off the seafront like sunburn.
We spent the night sweeping seawater through the kitchen but only suffered minimal damage outside
A family effort was needed to clear things up.
Though we needed the professionals to clear the road again.
We sponsored the local lantern procession for 4 years running, making a whale in 2015.
The story of the beach levels. This was the beach on 19th January 2016
9 days later on 28th January 2016 the beach looked like this. The prevailing Southerly winds kept taking the beach northwards towards Strete Gate. We desperately needed the wind patterns to change back.
This was right in front of the pub in February 2016, the optics rattled every time a wave hit the exposed rusty piles.
By May of the same year the beach looked like this
And look at it back in the 1980's
The storm in February 2016 caused severe damage to the wall by the slip way and another one in April caused the seawall serious damage.
The sea wall failed.
There was a chance that the cracks were getting bigger so close monitoring began.
The slipway wall was fixed up quick sharp in March 2016
We had welcome intervention from the environment agency who helped to get money from central government to pay for the sea wall's renovation by contractors who became Torcross Heroes.
We were thankful for the disruption.
Pub vistiors as well as sea front dwellers had suffered the winter booming and shaking from the sea bashing on the old pilings then the spring time vibrating of the piling machines reinforcing the old wall with a second layer of piles.
It took till February 2017 to finish
We thought that was the big one. We've lived through another 40 year storm. But worse was to come.
We made 12 feet high Toucans for the lantern parade in 2016.
A pirate ship in 2017.
We've had a lot of fun with colouring competitions over the years.
Kids always have the best ideas!
In March 2018 we got the beach back but the road was destroyed. You can't have things all ways we thought.. This was the storm named 'The Beast From The East'.
The Beast From The East
It was a spectacular terrifying storm
The road became the sea.
The damage was shocking
The monument carpark was trashed
The pub survived with a broken car park wall, a very wet bar carpet and rubble to clear in the car park by amazing volunteers.
Our shutters didn't quite fit as some decorators had tidied up the window frames. The sea quickly ripped one off and a rock smashed through the window.
The sea was in the bar this time.
We borrowed some dehumidifiers and the bar was open before the following weekend
We thought this might be the end of the road
Takings were down, less hours available for staff.
Gratefully the road was re-instated but it took until October 2018 to get it open again.
A giant peach was constructed for the lantern parade in 2018
With a flock of seagulls above.
We've had some interesting things wash up along the shingle ridge, in the winter of 2020 some sardines turned up which were delicious but sadly we couldn't put them on the menu.
Every year we feel compelled to rescue the starfish washed up on the beach.
Vellela were the strangest. Their sails are their only form of propulsion.
Then came COVID19 a challenge no one was prepared for.
Decisions had to be made considering the Torcross residents, staff and customers. We closed for 3 months then opened with a take away only service until we could open the benches. Keeping the carpark closed meant less visitors in the village and more room on the seafront for people to remain distanced.
In September 2020 we opened inside with 50% capacity, new systems in place and a strong team to support The Start Bay Inn through even more turbulent times.
In November 2020 Stuart left the pub to look for new challenges.
The people we have worked with are what makes the pub a really special place. All those who have helped us over the years are fondly thought of and always welcomed back with eagerness to hear stories of life outside Torcross.
We're looking forwards to a safe future offering fresh sustainable locally sourced produce, happy customers and good times spent with our brilliant crew here at Start Bay Inn.
Renovations continue. Some less obvious than others.
We're enjoying the cycles of seasons and current calm! So far so good 2024!