Pub purchase proves quite a switch after life in electronics

Perhaps his passion for real ale got the better of him, but David Welsh has no regrets about buying his first pub before he had even pulled his first pint.
By The Newsroom
Published 26th Dec 2010, 21:59 BST
Updated 26th Dec 2010, 22:00 BST

At a time when village pubs are closing right, left and centre, he bought The Jolly Sailor in Cawood in North Yorkshire with a family inheritance.

Mr Walsh, 49, pulled the first pint of his life just in time to welcome customers for Christmas. Now, he and his wife Lorraine, 51, who both live in the village, plan to setting up a micro-brewery in the back yard.

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It is a far cry from his previous career in electronics. It

has also been a life change for his wife, who is combining her day job as an accountant with evening work in the pub. It also means that for the first time in a year villagers, will have three pubs to choose from – although those with long memories still rue the day when Cawood boasted 18.

Mr Walsh was going to buy a micro brewery unit, but found out he could buy a pub for the same price in the current economic climate.

He went for a low key launch "because I did not know what I was doing and did not want a million people turning up".

He added: "I live in the village and just saw the 'for sale' sign.

"I don't think I would have had the courage to move and do this elsewhere so I thought it was now or never."

Related topics:North Yorkshire