Owners of a rural pub in Northumberland say they are delighted to give a community back their pub after four years without one.
The Queen's Head Inn in Great Whittington, around seven miles north east of Hexham, had last operated as a Chinese restaurant before it was spotted by business partners David Finn and Isaac Parr in an article in the Chronicle of pubs for sale in the region in last January 2022. Less than five months after seeing the article, the pub was opening up in time for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee last June.
And David, 29, says that the business partners have been "going with the flow" ever since after opening in an extremely challenging climate. So far, they have relied on word of mouth to spread the word and say that they are now getting visitors from "coast to coast and fifty miles north and south".
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David told ChronicleLive: "When we saw the pub advertised and went to see it, we fell in love with it and for us it was a golden opportunity to bring a traditional pub back. It's very old school and we find a lot of the pubs in the area have been commercialised quite a bit."
The pair want to keep the pub as a traditional warm pub with roaring fires and good food and drinks, and met when David was managing the Twice Brewed on Hadrian's Wall. They've both worked at other pubs in the area too, though reckon their day jobs (which they are still doing alongside running the pub) in IT and project management respectively will support them with accountancy, business processes and the day to day running of the building.
And they're delighted with the reaction that they've had so far, with David saying: "First and foremost people in the village are over the moon to have their pub back, as I think a lot of places would be, especially after Covid. I think a lot of people missed those small businesses that were close to home and the reaction locally has been fantastic, we couldn't have asked for better."
A challenging economic climate since taking over the pub has forced its new owners to adapt. They say that so far it's been a learning curve, with them deciding on taking a "less is more" approach, with the aim of keeping the Queen's Head accessible in terms of pricing, especially amid the cost of living crisis.
David continued: "The way pubs are run now is very different to three or four years ago, let alone six or seven. No-one expects you to be open all day every day anymore, people are a lot more willing to plan their week more accurately with budgets being tight.
"I think people have become more frugal but because they're going out less, they want to make sure they're spending on something good. So we've got a lot of repeat custom on Sunday lunches, we have a steak night, and we're just launching a takeaway night."
Despite the cost of living crisis, David claims that the Queen's Head has bucked the trend this January and is hopeful that their pub will continue to grow in 2023. He finished: "The old way that pubs behave in winter where December it is crazy, that sort of thing has bitten the dust I think.
"However, our business has continued to grow through the winter and into January, which from speaking to other publicans, is a massive buck to the trend. We've been very, very careful and we're going with the flow which I think is the best way to do it because no-one can predict what's around the corner.
"To keep our costs low and make sure we're not squeezing suppliers or customers, we're looking at options people don't always look at, things like wastage. Going into 2023, we're quite positive and the plan is to double down on everything we've built, keep the quality good and just be as humble as we can.
"Because we're in quite a tourist area, we still need to think about whether we'll open up every day in the summer but we don't want to jeopardise the good business we've already built up, and for us the strategy is a bit of a less is more approach.
"As word spreads about the pub and business becomes more stable and the world becomes more stable, we'll probably open up a little bit more and just start taking a step by step approach to expand the business. Ultimately we're looking for more venues but we need a careful bit of thought on how we're going to push the business forward."
For more information or to book a table at the Queen's Head in Great Whittington, visit the pub's website.
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