Queen O'T'Owd Thatch: cost of living crisis causes managers to give up award winning Yorkshire pub

The managers of a national award winning pub in North Yorkshire have announced they are giving up the lease due to financial pressures.

Kirsty Cheetham and Annie French have turned South Milford pub The Queen O'T'Owd Thatch – known to locals as The Thack – into a popular gastropub, winning the Observer Food Monthly Award for the best Sunday lunch two years in a row.

But on Thursday, Ms Cheetham and Ms French announced they will be leaving the pub in a month’s time after nearly ten years after being told of a rent increase.

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Sharing a post on social media, they wrote: “Our lease was due to run out in June, and we always planned to sign a new lease.

Kirsty Cheetham and Annie French have turned South Milford pub The Queen O'T'Owd Thatch – known to locals as The Thack – into a popular gastropub, winning the Observer Food Monthly Award for the best Sunday lunch two years in a row.Kirsty Cheetham and Annie French have turned South Milford pub The Queen O'T'Owd Thatch – known to locals as The Thack – into a popular gastropub, winning the Observer Food Monthly Award for the best Sunday lunch two years in a row.
Kirsty Cheetham and Annie French have turned South Milford pub The Queen O'T'Owd Thatch – known to locals as The Thack – into a popular gastropub, winning the Observer Food Monthly Award for the best Sunday lunch two years in a row.

“A rent increase combined with other financial challenges have forced this change of plan on us very suddenly.

“The last three years have been tough, we all know this. For us, the last 14 months in particular have seen a series of financial knocks which the business has suffered, and which we now have to concede has beaten us.

"The scandalous utilities situation has placed us in a position of running a deficit and then last week we received a proposed rent increase, which has made our ongoing business untenable.

"It’s simply how it is.”

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The managers will leave the week after Easter, planning to potentially trade up until April 16 depending on stock levels – and have appealed to customers to help them run the bar dry.

Villagers reacted with sadness at the announcement.

Businessman Andrew Robinson wrote: “Running a business has never been more difficult, running a pub with food is as tough as it gets. I know first hand how much you have put into this project, and how much love there is for you both in the village.”

Bev Fisher wrote: “You have made such a huge difference to the village transforming the pub into such a welcoming, beautiful space with such amazing food and hospitality. Heartbreaking for you after all that hard work.”

Hannah Barham-Brown wrote: “You’ve really put our little village on the map, and it will be a huge loss to lose you both.”