A trio of friends have taken over a Nottinghamshire pub with the aim of making it a family-friendly local with good home-cooked food at affordable prices. Julie Abbott, Stephen Walker and Kevin Lunt are at the helm of the Green Dragon in Hucknall.
The three, who took over in June, have plans to "not change but improve" the pub in Watnall Road. Julie, who has managed pubs for eight years but has been a barmaid for longer, has previously worked at the Winning Post, that's now houses in Clifton, and the Wagon and Horses in Hucknall.
She said: "One of the worst things you can do is come in and think 'it's my pub and we'll change this and we'll do that' but you alienate the customers. It's been a troubled pub from what we've heard but we are trying to make it a family place.
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"We didn't know this until we took it on. We don't want it to be like it's been in the past. We've got customers coming in saying this was their local for many, many years. I'm on it if anyone thinks they can bring drugs in the pub.
"I've barred a couple of people. They took 10-12 people with them and it hit us but now people are saying we can tell you've cleaned it up. This is what we want to hear. This is what the long haul is for people to say it's a family pub for everybody.
"The atmosphere is nice - now it's just maintaining it. I'm not going to tell people what they can't do - they can do what they like, they just can't do it on our premises."
The goal is to revamp the pub outside where some of the Green Dragon lettering has fallen off. Julie also spoke about plans, if permission is granted, to extend the dining area with a conservatory into part of the beer garden at the front. A section of the beer garden is in the shade at 5pm so another idea is to expand it into the car park and to relocate the disabled parking spaces closer to the door.
Food, served from noon, is all home-cooked by Stephen. Two for £10 meals are served during the week, including cottage pie and vegetables, chilli con carne, an all-day brunch and gammon, egg and chips. Also on the menu are burgers, scampi, chicken wings plus hot and cold cobs. Children have their own 'Little Dragons' options.
Julie said: "All our products are fresh except for the frozen peas. They're cooked on site. It's the same with the chips, they're all home-cooked. The comments that we get are it's just like their mum or grandma used to give them."
The new tenants are certainly accommodating. One customer complained that he didn't like the home-cooked chips, only frozen ones, so there's a bag in the freezer just for him. Sunday is carvery day with a choice of chicken, beef and gammon, all served with fresh vegetables.
"At the last pub when we did Sunday food we got lot of customers coming in and a lot of regulars didn't like it and you'd feel like you were fighting them all the time but here people are genuinely wanting it and we are working with the customers. It's definitely a friendlier pub," said Julie.
"Some we wanted out but we've got loads of lovely regulars. Some come four or five days a week drinking and on the days they're not drinking they're still coming in to pick up some food as we're doing takeaways, especially on Sundays. If it's warm like it has been you don't always feel like a Sunday dinner but when it cools down later you've got it in a foil container and you can just put it in the oven to warm it up.
"It's definitely getting busier. Takings are going up each week. The comments we're getting are amazing. It's word-of-mouth as well and that's your best publicity."
A pub pool team is being resurrected, there's karaoke and bingo and a quiz night on Wednesdays with a free supper. Julie is also planning to fundraise to create a children's play area.
Of the three Stephen has spent the most time in the industry. Julie said: "Steve is probably close to 20 years. Kev was working for the Royal Mail and he didn't want to do that any more. We met at a local pub. We've known each other for years now.
"We've had our own business as well selling sofas but we've come back into this again. I always said I wasn't going to do it again but then this came up. It's either in you or it's not."
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