Meet the 22-year-old who has just been put in charge of a popular Yorkshire pub
Jack Clarke, from Leeds, is in charge of The Sun Inn at Lightcliffe, Brighouse, which re-opened on September 26 after being closed for nearly two months. The pub was closed in the first week of August, since when it has been taken over by a new licensee, who lives in Manchester, who appointed the 22-year-old to run the business on a day-to-day basis.
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Hide AdJack was studying international politics at the University of London Institute in Paris before being tempted back to West Yorkshire.
"I just saw the advert on Facebook, I was bored with uni and thought' why not?'," he said. "I've been working in hospitality since I was 18, 19 and I've always enjoyed working in the industry. It was a lot of faith to put in me to hand over the keys. It is a bit of change. I am missing sleeping but I'm loving every second of it at the minute.
"I came in for the interview on the Monday, and was moved in on the Tuesday and spent the next week painting, and then we opened on the Monday afterwards. It was decorated about a year and a half ago so all the foundations were there, we've just gone over everything because it needed a bit of a touch up. We took the wallpaper off one of the rooms and pained all that. All in all we did around 16, 17 hours of painting across two days."Jack has appointed a new assistant managed, who is aged 24, and a new head chef, Matthew Hillam, aged 30.
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Hide Ad"I see it as a positive, it is a learning curve but we're brand new to it so there's no preconceived notions to it," Jack said. "It does have its challenges but it's fun learning as you go. My mum's been here for the first few weeks helping out, and it's always fun seeing the surprised look on people's faces because they assume she was the new boss, not me.”
Jack has been delighted with the response from customers since the pub re-opened.
"The feedback's been brilliant," he said, "We've got a load of the regulars back within the first couple of days. We expected it to be very quiet for the first month or so. We do still have quiet days but the support from the locals has been incredible. They wanted it back open as well because it's their local, and they're glad to have somewhere back open within walking distance."
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Hide AdJack says his vision for the pub is for it to be a must-visit location for local foodies.
"I really want it to be a place that's known for having great food - pub food done right," he said. "So it's all fresh, local ingredients, I think our furthest supplier is in Wetherby, six days a week deliveries, no microwaves. We're going for as fresh as possible with quality, fresh ingredients."