Eric Visits The Apprentice Losers Cafe - To Wit Bridge Cafe

Oh my goodness, goodness, goodness, goodness ...... can you tell I'm excited? ..... just fresh from our break in Dawlish ........

....... after years of yearning and long felt wanting, throughout every single series  .......

..... Eric has finally made all our dreams come true by visiting Bridge Cafe, as featured on The Apprentice ....... 

...... the real life cafe where the losing team of candidates are sent to apportion the blame on who ever they think lost them the last task.

Image: BBC

Eric said he was shaking as his tummy performed tumbled turns as he entered its esteemed portals ........

..... with feelings akin to those he experienced when he attended a royal garden party at Buckingham Palace!

..... and now, here he was in person, fulfilling all our dreams on our behalf.

It took him a while and much pinching to take in that he was actually really there, the tables and chairs were in different positions as he was told, they are arranged differently for the filming, to help accommodate the film crew, their equipment plus of course the candidates while Gerry and Frank, the owners of 60 years, have to huddle in the back.

However, the famous chilled counter was just the same.

Once he had calmed down a little and could breath properly again, Eric was ready to order a mug of builders tea and a bacon sandwich, as well as purchase a souvenir Bridge Cafe mug, well it would have been rude and remiss not to (£9.99).

Never has said tea, Eric sighed, gone down soooooooo gloriously .......

..... or a very amply filled bacon sandwich ..........

..... with just a soupcon of Asda value brown sauce tasted so wonderful.  He was in seventh, nay eighth, ninth and tenth heaven.

Gerry and Frank couldn't have been more welcoming, which was truly the icing on the cake, sitting down to answer all Eric's questions, along with added insider knowledge.

..... to wit ......

When filming absolutely everything has to be turned off, including the fridge so that its perfectly silent.

Next years series is already in the can and this years candidates were all very nice, even helping to tidy up and putting tables and chairs etc. back before they left.

Some candidates from previous year have not been as nice, one young lady refused to go in the cafe as it was beneath her and one gentleman asked if they had a mirror so he could check how he looked!

Celebrity Apprentice 2025 to celebrate 20 years of the programme is also in the can and Judge Rinder is in it, who we absolutely love, so he'll be our definite favourite to win from the get go.

Our beloved Sir Lord Alan has not visited the cafe and unlike the cafe, his office isn't real, it's a mock up, back at the studios, just up the road.

Big Brother is also filmed up the road.

There's a lot of famous people who have popped in for a brew and a butty seeing as it is so near the TV studios, sadly far too many for Eric to recall, but he did remember Rylan (who is lovely and very tall), Bob Beckett, Ramesh Ramanathan and a lot of other comedians. Eric wished they had a visitors book for him to drool over.

The Bridge has also featured in quite a few other TV programmes including The Sweeny.

Frank also went to the studios to be interviewed for the 20th Anniversary special and wasn't all that keen on the celebrity who interviewed him (a bit sarcastic) but we're not saying who.

The above is just the tip of the iceberg of what Eric was told. We cannot thank Gerry and Frank and their lovely lady assistant (Eric didn't catch her name) who gave him such a special, a once in a life time experience for an Apprentice aficionado such as he, along with us .........

Eric said it had all been tremendously emotional and hoped he'd just embraced and taken it all in, enough for all of us, wishing we'd been there to share it, but who knows ........ perhaps one day we will .... you never know. 

THANK YOU BRIDGE CAFE.

Eric On A Mission To Achieve A Very Long Felt Want All On Our Behalves.

And, just as one adventure ends another begins with Eric is currently in the London borough of Ealing, Acton W3 to be absolutely precise, to finally achieve a very long felt want for all of us.

It's a place I don't think we've mentioned for ages, but it's hold has always been there in the depths of our hearts.

Yes, it would have been truly wonderful if we could have all gone together, but on this occasion, Lu, only had room for one and so, as fate would have it, it was Eric who picked the longest straw!

However, that being said, we were more than happy to let Eric go, as we knew his descriptions would be so vivid that we would all be immediately transported to this "mecca" in a telepathic, teleportational type way in our minds eye!

He said it was a bit of a trek from the bus stop, but the excitement and anticipation of it all made each step feel as if he was walking on air ......

..... but rather than reveal all as to where the little fella's end goal was, we thought we'd keep you on tenterhooks until tomorrow ....... 

.......... although there are a couple of clues in amongst the pictures to help keep you guessing ........ all answers on a postcard please!

Farewell Dawlish Warren For Another Year

And ....... almost as soon as it began .........

..... our time in Dawlish Warren has come to another emotional end .........

..... but as sure as eggs is eggs and Marmite is our savoury spread of choice ......

...... we will be back .......

........ for more adventures and memory making with our beloved niece and nephew in 2026.

So, with a moist eye, before we took to the road, there was just time for one last ball drop and the exchange of prize tokens in the arcade and our first (unbelievably) and last ice-cream.

But this won't be our last hurrah to the sea in 2025 ........

....... because the ever fragrant Alice and Eric will be waving across the Gulf of Mexico from Clearwater Bay to Mr D in Mexico before Christmas .......

...... and then, after Christmas but before New Year, we'll all be off to Christchurch (the English version not the New Zealand one), for what will be that aforementioned last hurrah.

An awful lot to look forward to, warm the cockles of our hearts and keep the home fires burning, as the dreaded cold, grey and dark nights of winter approaches, with many adventures back at The Towers ahead I dare say, betwixt and between!

Let's Go Fly A Kite, Simple Pleasures

In Dawlish Warren, before hitting the fairground hard every night.......

...... we have found simple pleasures in the cheap and cheerful guise of a Temu kite. We won't tell you how long it actually took us to work out how to put it together in order to get it to fly, but let's just says some of us were tangibly close to tears ........

........ and when we did, doh, it was sooooooooo simple and completely obvious  it was too totally embarrassingly embarrassing for words!

But what price stress, frustration, a little swearing and the stamping of feet when the end result was so much laughter, unforgettable, unforgettable memories and the sheer unbridled and unabandoned joy of simply chasing after it without a single care in the world.

Hitherto Unnoticed Seaside Pleasures

Oh my life, in all our years bringing our beloved niece and nephew to Dawlish (Warren), which was, Mr D may remember, the holiday haunt of a certain Mr Alan Hargreaves, for well over 40 odd years ..........

...... they've never ever once noticed the small, permanent fairground right next to the entrance of the carpark, despite it being on flagrant and totally full frontal view every time we've gone to and from the beach ......

..... until now, that is!  Gone are our traditional evenings in the entertainment suite for bingo, children's entertainment, family fun time and showtime .......

..... to be replaced by trampolining, humungous slides and all manner of terrifying rides, all of which Iris and Bertie now want to embrace with unabashed and unbridled gusto, every single night until we're almost locked in, having to use the back passage to evacuate, if you know what I mean!

So, what would have been once been our bingo money and first round of lemonade and crisps has quickly segued into a huge pile of pre-paid tickets for all the rides.

Not that we begrudge a single penny, but have already made a note to put an extra £5 away each month in our Dawlish savings account for next year!

It's also costing us a blooming arm and a leg, plus a few toes for souvenir photos, these people flipping get you at every single turn, pulling at your emotions,

 Eric is putting quite a collection together .......

........ but we're building memories 

....... that hopefully will last forever ........

...... even if some are associated with feeling everso slightly queasy, discombobulated, and occasionally very light headed, not to mention totally exhausted, but to be honest, we wouldn't have it any other way!

To The Ball Dropper

 Second port of call on our short trip to Dawlish?

Well, it had to be the amusement arcade didn't it ........

...... especially as we've all been saving every single 2p we received in our change in one of Darrell's old socks, ever since we were here last year. Let's just say it amounted to quite a weighty pile, but it goes without saying that we soon blew threw it.

And, it's also very true when Eric opined .......

..... that the loudest and most prolonged clatter of coins we ever get, in any of the arcades we visit, is the one the 2p's make when we change our pounds!

But, what's an overly stretched sock and plastic cup full of 2ps when compared to the unbridled excitement of our beloved niece and nephew as they try to win enough tickets to exchange for a prize on the morning of our return home. It's a seaside tradition for all of us, even if it only enough for a mini packet of Love Hearts or a miniscule bag of Haribo!

But the very pinnacle of any visit is the obligatory, intensive ball grabbing dans le ball dropper at the very beginning, middle and end of every visit we make to this much loved establishment!  

Oh, those lazy, hazy crazy days of summer (well, really Autumn in this instance), we wish that summer could always be here!

To The Beach

 The very most first port of call when you're by the seaside ........

...... beside the sea ......

...... dans Dawlish Warren?

Well, it just has to be the beach ........

....... and it felt soooooooooo good, with that unique seasidey, whiff of ozone assailing our nasal cavities!  Nothing, absolutely nothing, smells quite as wonderful as the sea, except, perhaps, Darrell magnificent Christmas dinners!

Our camp was quickly established, blankets lain on the sand, deck chairs set up, bucket and spades out and ready for action and our newly acquired inflatable paddling pool blown up and filled by what seemed to be an endless a chain of buckets to and from the sea .......

....... and our beloved Iris lost in the magic of the waves, from paddling last year to the full on wild abandon of "face planting" as she called it this year. 

These were the days we'd dreamt of and planned for all year, sandy sandwiches, staying within the lifeguards flags  ......

...... beachcombing for holey stones and stones with faces .......

....... and just simply taking it all in .......

...... a chance to chill and have unbridled fun before the autumn and winter finally envelope us in their misty haze of cold fingers and nipped noses, thick jumpers and overcoats for just a few more happy happy days!