Inn for romance... Yorkshire landlord ties the knot in his own pub

But the little West Riding hostelry fashioned from a former sweet shop has become Yorkshire’s latest bijou marriage venue – a status its landlord and landlady will make official next week by tying the knot there themselves.

Calan’s, a so-called micropub in Hebden Bridge, is in the tradition of the Northern street corner inns that proliferated before the war, except that it stands in a gentrified and pedestrianised courtyard in the town centre, not a grimy back street.

With a wine list of just one red and one white, a single gin on the spirits menu and a capacity of only 35 people, it’s unlikely to be in demand for society events.

“But we’re both second-time-arounders and you don’t have to invite a million guests, do you?” said its landlord, Damian Lake.

He and his fiancée, Nadine Waring, had met there three years ago, when someone else ran it.

“We were looking to tie the knot, and looking for a venue that was the right size,” Mr Lake said.

“We looked at a few obvious places, like Gretna Green, and decided it would be a better idea if we just did it ourselves.”

Ms Waring added: “We looked at small venues, quirky venues, original venues, but everything was too pricey, too civic or too formal. It suddenly struck us that the place we were sitting in was the place we would love to get married in.”

Having obtained a licence to conduct civil marriage and partnership ceremonies, they will host their own before a dozen close relatives and friends next Monday, with Mr Lake’s son and daughter as witnesses and a Calderdale registrar officiating.

“We think it’s a first,” he said. “We’ve not heard of anyone else getting married in their own pub, that’s for sure.”

The wedding vows would be as pared down as the venue, he added. “We’ve gone for the most basic available. There’ll be no honouring or obeying stuff.”

He and Ms Waring, who are in their early 50s, have been running the pub for 18 months. “It has been a tea room and a sweet shop in its time,” he said.

“It was somewhere we chose to drink ourselves. And when the couple running it decided to retire, we scraped some money together and bought it.

“It’s a one-room pub, a parlour bar. We do mostly cask ale and real cider. There’s there’s no music, no gaming, no TV – it’s somewhere to go and hold a conversation with whoever is in.”

Other than the occasional pork pie delivery, food is also not on the usual bill of fare, although for wedding parties, outside suppliers from Hebden Bridge’s famously eclectic catering community can be engaged.

Mr Lake said the venue would also embrace the town’s celebrated Bohemian character, by opening its doors to couples of every gender and convention.

“We welcome anybody, and people can do whatever they want to enjoy their big day,” he said.