Our new pub is born.........

And it's called the WHITE HART HOTEL, and here is a picture of some of our fabulous staff who are going to run it and look after all the hungry and thirsty customers......!! Don't they look great in their 'sunflower' shirts (just a little bit brighter than they looked in the catalogue - but hey, at least customers will be able to see them!)

Staff missing are our 2 housekeepers and cook - hard at work getting things ready for the opening they were....... As you can see in the picture, they are quite a young team - but full of energy and with a huge will to make the business succeed.

It's been a very stressful couple of weeks - with me wailing several times ' I'm never f'ing well doing this again'......, with neither SOH or myself having more than 6 hours sleep a night for a couple of weeks - and eating either very little, on the run or gorging on cakes and pastry from local bakers..... But there's no doubt, the whole experience is a lot like having a baby! You enjoy the news you're having a baby (another pub), it's tiring leading up to the birth (pub opening), the birth (pub opening) and the first few days after delivery (pub opening) are both exciting and terrifying in equal measures, and then in an instant (well, almost) you forget all the pain and trauma and enjoy the experience!! I quite enjoyed pounding the streets of Modbury talking to people about our new pub - and I have so much sympathy for the postmen with the number of times I got my fingers jammed in letterboxes.......

Anyway - and firstly - all of the St Austell building team, designers, planners, cellar services etc etc ALL deserve a huge pat on the back for getting us ready to open - in just under 8 days they took a huge, empty soulless shell of a pub and put doors into walls, built from scratch really beautiful wood panelled settles and window seating, wood panels all round the bar area, opened up a fire place, decorated the entire ground floor, put new beer lines into the building and cellar. The dray men had to bring in every single barrel and bottle needed to open a fully functioning bar (Lord - I hate to think of our first brewery bill!) as well as glasses, pictures and then take away all the remaining old and furniture back to the brewery. Also a massive thanks to Adam, Jim and Dwayne for their constant support and guidance in all things as usual.

Secondly, to Harry (she's really Harriet) and David our new Manager and her assistant who have put in massive amounts of hours organising, lifting and shifting as well. Giving a new slant on things and offering great ideas. To James our executive chef who not only helped get the food ready for the menu at the pub, but also prepared the canapes for the opening night AND oversaw the Victoria Inn kitchen.....

Thirdly, SOH, Tim - for having so been patient (even with BT and other varied workmen from outside the breweries control!!) with me and our 2 puppies, and for being so bloody good at what he does, because without him and his vast experience in bringing it all together I doubt we could have opened in quite the same way as we did on Friday night.

So - to Friday night........ a blooming marvelous start, with well over a 100 people turning up - some even waiting for the doors to open, and they just kept coming...... it was a great turn out, far better I think than either of us was expecting! Lots and lots of mainly local people, a prospective MP, Master of the Hunt, clergy, tourist information centre - many local business people with ideas on how to work together and make Modbury a bit more of a thriving prosperous small town. Lots of food for thought.....

Talking of food, Saturday was our first day of serving food..... mmmn, a little bit fraught as equipment broke down, fuses blew, things that we'd not remembered became important; like vinegar pots, some cooking implements, knowing how to turn on the char grill etc etc etc..... not a great lunch service - a few tears and a few short tempers all made for a lunchtime to be forgotten, but the evening service was a hundred times better - compliments abounded on the food and where there was criticism it was constructive and changes made.

Staff remembered their customer service training - made conversation and TALKED to customers - that's a rarity in a lot of pubs these days - and both staff and customers seemed to enjoy the new look White Hart Hotel.

So, onto the next phase - getting the function room back to looking gorgeous and ready for use. Its actually called the 'Assembly Rooms' and it's a massive light and airy room with beautiful brass chandeliers (real brass - not tin!), not too much to do there actually. I so want to get that marketed and used for functions both by the local community and the wider area - I'm even toying with the idea of getting it licensed for weddings as the nearest Registry Office is miles away.......???

Firstly though, it's getting the website built and up and running - in hand, just needs me chasing it along next week.

Anyway, back to the fab function room - we would have had our wedding reception there had we had the pub then - no doubt at all. It can hold about 100 people and the first proper use is the Modbury Gospel Choir this week followed by a Comedy Club night in early June - more details of that later.

Then the next target is getting the hotel rooms back up to scratch - some minor decorative work there and probably yet another trip to buy soft furnishings - my target for that is third / fourth week of May!

As for the Victoria Inn - well, I've been looking after that mostly - and it's been a great May Bank Holiday. Lots and lots of people about - a smashing Under 10's Rugby evening last night - with the parents having an exceptionally merry night!! I've also been working with James on our new summer menu which comes to life in a fortnight - lots of fish dishes and especially Crab this year - as we are going to be the Salcombe face of a 'Visit South Devon' fresh crab campaign with the celebrity chef Mitch Tonks - again, more of that later...........

On top of all of this chaos has been 9 month old Rosie and 10 week old Archie - continuing to learn to live with each other and giving us lots to smile at as we watch them play and fight and eat and sleep so beautifully together......

But right now - it's a slightly earlier night - and we could both do with an extra hour - so untill the next time dear friends........X