Traditional pub finds innovative ways to thrive

Jackie Stubbs is a happy lady. She is living the dream she talked about for as long as she can remember – and she believes these pages helped make it happen. Two years ago, we ran an interview with Jackie and her mother Margaret about their ambition to have a pub which would be at the centre of village life.

This summer in Hudswell, a stunning spot two miles from Richmond, they reopened the doors of The George and Dragon. It had been the victim of the depressing long-term national downturn which at the moment just seems to be accelerating. Currently 50 country pubs around the country are closing every week.

"We had come to see the George and Dragon when it was on the market for sale as a freehold," says Jackie. "Everywhere we looked there was always something that appeared to hold us back and mainly it was cash. The agents tipped us the wink that it might possibly be bought by the local community if they could raise enough money, so we kept our ears to the ground.

"When we heard the finance had been raised and that Hudswell Community Pub Ltd were looking for a tenant, we did our level best to get in first."

The villagers of Hudswell had pulled together to raise 240,000 to buy the George and Dragon, and work commenced to make it a clean, fresh, modern place to eat and drink.

"We came up straight away to see the committee with our business plan," says Jackie. "We were told there would be a selection process and that we were up against tough competition. There were people who had been in the pub trade for a long time and part of the criteria was that they wanted someone who had managed a pub before."

Margaret thought that condition would stymie their prospects. "I didn't think we had a chance because although we had both worked in the licensed trade, we hadn't actually run a pub before. Even when we made it to the shortlist of four I still didn't think we would get it."

But get it they did, and so far everything is coming up roses. They have even found themselves in a starring role in the a TV documentary fly-on-the-wall series called The Dales which is just being completed. It should also give them a boost when it is broadcast on ITV next February.

What Hudswell Community Pub Ltd has already achieved is impressive and might serve as a blueprint for the many other villages who have lost, or are in danger of losing, their local pub. They have established a small but expanding library, at a time when rural library services in general are under threat.

"We had always said that when we got a pub we would like to have a bookswap shelf," says Jackie. "Martin Booth, Paul Cullen and the others from Hudswell Community Pub Ltd were talking of providing a library service and it is proving popular. It's another added amenity. We have internet WiFi access too."

An acre of land behind the pub has become 10 allotments which also offer wonderful views of Swaledale. "There was also a feeling that it would be a nice idea to have allotments at the back. There are a lot of people with small gardens in the village and this will also hopefully keep them coming into the pub."

A shop is planned in the next six months, using a spare room, selling basics such as bread, milk, eggs and other regularly used products. Outbuildings and a garage have been earmarked for conversion into holiday letting accommodation.

At the bar there are guest beers as well as its regular offerings and traditional pub food. "Our takings are around just over half on the food side which is better than we had expected. We have attracted customers from the nearby towns and from Darlington and Teesside during the summer. We're also just off the Coast to Coast Walk and get some passing trade as a result."

Jackie and Margaret are probably in a more fortunate position than most new pub landlords. They have a committed community who have put up their own money and need this to work.

It's a project which has already been endorsed and recognised more widely. The pub has triumphed in the National Market Town Awards where it topped the list as the outstanding project in the social and community category.

Awards are nice but what really matters are economics. Margaret believes their first real test will be surviving the winter. "So far, so good, the figures have been above our expectations and that might just tide us over for short while during winter.

"But the success of the pub still remains to be seen. We only have around 200 residents here in Hudswell and by my reckoning only around one-sixth of them come in regularly. So we need to attract people from Richmond and Catterick."

Ideas are Jackie's department. "You have to push the pub and put yourself out there. You've got to do things that can't be done at home so that you encourage people to come to the pub.

"We've had a Fijian festival. Our chef is Fijian and I spent eight weeks out there. You can't have one of those at home with all the men in their grass skirts like we had.

"We have a music night planned for Thursday September 30. One of my main objectives is to put Hudswell on the map. I went to Reeth Show recently and there were so many people from Richmond who didn't know where Hudswell was, yet it is just five minutes up the hill from the town.

"We couldn't have dreamed of running a pub like this in such a lovely community a year ago and we think the story in Country Week really helped us convince people we were serious. We have it framed for all to see in the pub.

"All of the villagers have made us welcome and because of the land at the back we were also able to bring our rare breed Kune Kune pigs, Shally and Pickle.

"They're creating quite a stir. We know quite a few of the villagers by name now, but we also know most people by their dog's name.

"We're not looking to go anywhere, we just want to make this work. We really are living the dream."

CW 18/9/10