Another challenge

So here it is then - our new challenge.................. the White Hart Hotel in Modbury, South Devon. This is a 6 bedroom hotel, with a really large bar / dining area, a massive function room upstairs with the most glorious acoustics, brass fittings and chandeliers and a fantastic bar area. It has the most amazing potential and SOH and I are incredibly excited about running it.

St Austell brewery are purchasing this building to add to their evergrowing portfolio, and they have asked my Husband and I (Just had to put that in - sorry!!) to be tenants of it........... now then, lets be clear about this - we are keeping the Victoria Inn. It's our baby and we love it!! We've worked hard to get the Victoria the reputation it has today and Salcombe is also our home, so we have no intention of leaving for a few years yet!!

But sometimes, you have to go with your instinct, and our instinct is that the White Hart Hotel is like a box of mediocre chocolates at the moment - potentially good ingredients and interesting wrapping but nothing making it very special! At the moment the WHH is empty and has been so since well before Christmas, the last couple of occupants / owners have found it challenging and failed to make it work.........so why do we think we can make it work any differently???

Well firstly, St Austell wouldn't be buying it if they thought it wouldn't work - and they wouldn't have asked us to work with them for the very same reasons!! Secondly, and without sounding too boastful we have made the Victoria into a really special pub and we believe we can do the same to the White Hart. With the help of St Austell and their magical design team we'll turn the

bar / eating area that's presently cold and gloomy into a fabulous area where friends can meet, enjoy great ales and eat reasonably priced fabulous home cooked food.

The function room is where there's some huge potential so we'll put on occasional live music evenings - probably blues and jazz. I'm also hoping to put on comedy nights and maybe an element of 'open mike' or 'X Factor' type evenings!! We''ll be actively pursuing as much use of that function room as possible! Then there are the bedrooms - 5 that we'll be able to use as 1 is being used as an office....... they are gorgeous! Not a lot of work to be done on them - just a bit of 'prettying' up........

The staff are almost recruited and I have two training sessions planned for this coming week - Getting to know each other, Customer service, alcohol legislation etc. Needless to say I've been pretty much glued to the computer working on all the paperwork and training stuff, as well as trying to manage a couple of very busy weeks here at the Victoria.

Talking of the Victoria, we have had a really good Easter and there are still quite a few holidaymakers down here. The weather has turned warmer thankfully and the sun certainly makes people happier!!

Our wedding and the glorious honeymoon all seem such a long way away now and yet, they're only 3 weeks past................ it already seems a lifetime away. However, our very good friends Phil and Lisa visited us this week - and they were especially welcome as of course Lisa took our wedding photo's: http://www.lisabeaney.co.uk/ so just in case you wanted to see a reminder of our beautiful day here are one or two of my favourites...............