Last month, one of Harry Gurney’s worst nightmares became a reality.
The Tap & Run pub in Melton Mowbray, owned by former England international cricketer Gurney and legendary bowler Stuart Broad, was seriously damaged by a devastating fire. The roof was destroyed, while the interior of the building was also torched. Thankfully no one was injured.
“It was about 3:30 in the morning when my phone rang,” Gurney tells Mirror Sport . “It was the general manager Jack and he just said: ‘Harry, someone’s rung me in the village to say the Tap’s on fire ’. I swore, jumped out of bed, got dressed, got in the car and headed over.
“I only live about 25 minutes away and when I got around halfway there, I could see smoke in the sky. So I knew it was a big fire.
“I got there and parked around the corner, up the hill from the pub. I then walked around the corner and looked down on this inferno. It was a period of 30, 40 minutes of my life I’ll never forget – that’s for sure.
“You just hope it never happens but it’s something [that does]. Fires in pubs are – I don’t want to say common because they’re not – but they’re not ridiculously uncommon, let’s put it that way.
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“I’ve got the CCTV on my phone and there were times I would wake up in the middle of the night and check it to make sure the place wasn’t on fire. It is a bit of a recurring worry, I suppose, of being a pub owner or owning any commercial property. For that to become a reality was pretty traumatic.”
Gurney and Broad are best known for their success on the field. Gurney represented England in white-ball cricket and was one of the most feared bowlers in the T20 game before his retirement last year, playing in the IPL and winning plenty of domestic trophies.
Broad, meanwhile, has taken 795 international wickets and is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. The former England T20I captain, who turned 36 last month, remains a key member of the Test side.
Yet the former Nottinghamshire team-mates have achieved significant success since launching The Cat & Wickets Pub Company in 2016. The Tap & Run was named as one of the top 30 best places for Sunday lunch in Britain by The Times in March, one of the many honours the Melton Mowbray pub has gained. It makes the fire all the more painful.
“The business was performing really well. In 2019, we’d built really well and were up year-on-year… and then of course Covid came along.
“When we reopened after Covid last April [2021] – in the year or so since then up until the fire – we were 95 per cent up on the same period as the previous year. The business was flying, which is why it’s such a shame [about the fire]. The main thing is we’re going to rebuild it and have another go.”
And the Tap & Run’s second innings is already underway. “The insurers, Arch Insurance, have been really good. The loss adjuster is a company called Sedgwick and I’m dealing with them, a guy called Paul Whitehouse, who’s brilliant.
“Everyone I spoke to in the aftermath of the fire said: ‘They’ll try to stitch you up, they’ll try to wriggle out of paying, they’ll interrogate you’ and all this type of stuff.
“But that couldn’t be much further away from my experience. I think they were great – did a brilliant job. They asked fair and appropriate questions and for fair and appropriate documentation. Once that was all provided, they accepted liability really quickly.
“From that point on I’ve been a little bit more relaxed because we’ve been able to rebuild the pub.
“At the moment, we’re aiming to get the roof back on by the end of September and then finish the works in the middle of March, but obviously that’s subject to change. It’s carefully mapped out – so it’s an accurate timeframe – but as we know there might be some delays.”
Despite the pain of witnessing his beloved pub in flames, Gurney remains excited for the future.
“I love it. I’m as passionate about running a business as I was about playing cricket, which I feel fortunate to say. It means I’ve spent my entire professional life in two very different worlds but just jumping out of bed every day and loving it. I know that’s not the case for many people.
“The business is for five [pubs] by the end of 2025… and we’re going to try to stick to that time frame, even though there’s now a delay. That’s still my target.”
