May 16th 2023:

I had the opportunity recently to chat with Steph and Neil, owners of The George at Ashley country pub. I was interested to know how they have reacted to the 'post-covid' era and current cost of living crisis in their business. The following is a transcription of that frank conversation:

Simon:
So Steph, Neil, it's a pleasure to see you as always and thank you for agreeing to this brief interview. I was just wondering how you are finding things now in your industry compared to what the situation was when you took over the pub in 2020, and what changes you have had to make to keep a successful business.


Neil:
Well, it's different!

Yeah. Very different.  I think the days of running a pub just as a pub have long gone. You definitely need to have different income streams. You need to understand what your customer really wants rather than giving them what you think they want, because I think customers are a lot more demanding now.

"Changing Lifestyles":

Steph:
You can’t for example just open the door anymore and expect people to come in for a drink after work like they used to. There’s no doubt that the pandemic and cost of living pressures have changed people’s habits and we as publicans have to recognise that even more than before and give people more of a purpose to come in.

Simon:
And you’ve noticed that change just since the pandemic?

Steph:
Yeah, I think so. Of course, we'll still have regular drinkers in because that's still a routine. And we’ll have guests who are staying with us come in for a drink. But apart from those, others might only come in now if they are also having something to eat, or to play darts, or attend an event we’re running like the Open Mic Night.

Neil:
Or whereas they used to come in regularly during the week, maybe now they’ll only come in say on a Friday night.

And I think during Covid, people got used to drinking at home. And even though they weren’t getting the social benefits, they could do it cheaper. And I also think the younger generation’s habits are very different to those of our generation. They don't tend to meet up in the pub for a drink with friends like we used to  - they meet at someone's house, drink there and then go out later in the town when the country pubs like ours have closed.

Simon:
Yes, I understand that. And that's because of financial reasons as well as social reasons?

Neil:
I think more social reasons! Yeah, I don't think so much a financial issue because some of them are 30 + and still living at home!  I would imagine they've got more disposable income than we do!

But seriously, of course it’s been hard.  

Simon:
It's become a habit for them being forced to stay at home during covid as well. And, they’ve had to think of doing other things and to occupy themselves, but then after the covid lockdowns, they’ve of course got used to drinking at home and now I think it's more of a rarity for people to go out.

Neil:
And the younger ones in particular tend to go out later especially in the towns. But out here in the country, I think in general, people like to go out earlier, say by 9, and then by 10 o'clock there may be just the odd hardened drinker left!

"Adapting to change":

Simon:
Sure. So how do you manage that situation? What changes  have you had to make to attract people, which you’ve done successfully at The George?

Neil:
Well, we realised we had to give people a better reason to come. I mean – little things, we vary the menus, we have different themes on different nights of the week, and at different price points. We’ve asked our customers what they like and we’ve listened, made changes and mostly they’ve responded.  But, we also have a bar with good beers and drinks and we are quite adamant that we will keep the bar because we are still fundamentally  ‘a country pub’ and I personally like a pub!

You know, I'm sure we could make more money if we turned this into a gastro pub and have seating for food everywhere. But we bought a country pub.

Simon:
Yeah. And I’m sure that's what people still want. The attraction to any village more than often is going to be the country pub.

Neil:
Very much so. Most people come in and say, ‘we love the open fire’ or the country feel. That is, they love it until we haven't got room to seat them for dinner if they haven’t booked! People like to come for the unique country pub experience, so that’s what we offer them.

Simon:
Absolutely. And that's what you've got here. You've been very successful at doing exactly that by giving people what they want and your figures and the trade you've built up during this time show that. So now you are having theme nights throughout the week to maintain variety, you have regular and occasional events, music nights, quiz nights etc which is encouraging people to come out again and enjoy the atmosphere.  And of course you've got your popular accommodation at the back, which has been very successful as well.

Neil:
Yeah. The accommodation is very important to us.  It's an essential income stream for us because we’ll always offer really good quality, and great value for money. And it’s been lovely to get the brilliant reviews.

Steph:
It also ensures that the restaurant is 50% full with guests.  And they will also drink in the bar, so that's a good income stream for us.

"Keeping it personal":

Simon:
Yeah. But I think what you're very good at also is not just the quality of the accommodation. It's you, you are ‘hands on people’ who engage with your customers and people love that – it shows you care.

Steph:
Well, we are always on site and we will always meet and greet, which I think people like. And that’s important especially in country pubs which are generally smaller ‘cause people like to see the owners – and we like to see them so it works both ways.

Neil:
And we make a point of not having 'phones behind the bar. We don't generally have a TV screen up which I think encourages conversation.

Simon:
Yeah. But you do accommodate the big occasions eg .the Rugby Six Nations, The World Cup tournaments etc

Neil:
And of course for the Coronation, the TV will be up. Yes, but a country pub is about talking to people. It's about meeting people. We don't really have to know them to talk to them.

Steph:
One of the things with the guests that come in, they're so happy that our locals will talk to them. You know, perhaps they met last night and today they’re like ‘old friends’ which makes feel more at home.

Simon:
I think you've hit it absolutely right. Absolutely. Being hands on owners, people love that. When I've eaten here, I see you having a few welcoming words with each of your customers at the table and it shows you genuinely care that they’re enjoying the service they're getting.

"It's all about the service":

Neil:
I think after covid, new customers have got more difficult to get. So when we’ve got them, we want to show our appreciation and look after them, and hopefully if they’ve had a good experience, they’ll want to return. I mean, a lot of our income over these last three years has been repeat business -  and long may it continue. It's very difficult to advertise effectively nowadays. Yes, we use social media and other awareness platforms like the best of Market Harborough, but if you give really good personal service, people will talk about you and we’ll often get new customers that way.

Steph:
If you look after people, make them feel welcome, they’re going away and they’re telling other people and we can’t ask for more than that.

Neil:
‘Word of mouth’ is so important. But of course, we’ve consistently got to get it right or it could just as easily work against us. But when we started, we knew it was always going to be a slow burner. Quite rightly, we had to earn people’s trust and gradually build our reputation. And hopefully we’ve been doing that quite well. With the help of our customers, we’ve been getting our name out and it’s paying dividends.

"And what about the future....?"

Simon:
That’s great, but how do you see the future unfolding? Do you see it getting easier or maybe harder in the pub industry?

Neil:
There can be no doubt that the pub industry, like many others, has got a lot of challenges to cope with,  from the change in consumer behavior to cost of living standards and of course the cost of materials, staff and god knows what else!

Steph:
The supply chain we're already struggling with as well.

Neil:
Yeah. Very much so. But you know, we can't change the supply chain. That’s pretty much out of our control like most of the other situations. The only thing we can change is what we do here. We have to adapt to whatever situation is thrown at us. We can only 'control the controllables' and keep adapting as necessary to provide the best service we can..

Steph:
For example, with our menus changing every five weeks, we can plan our food service according to the consistent supply of raw materials. It just needs some careful planning ahead, so we know we can still deliver the quality and variety of food that people expect.

Neil:
And as for ‘the cost of living’, we've looked at quite a few things – not quality related, but ‘back of house’ related. One thing we’ve done recently is to install a new till system which is saving us money, which means we don't have to put the beer price up. We've also just changed our beer supplier completely. In this case, there was an issue with service, and we’re really pleased that the new supplier service has so far been ‘spot on’, which all means we can continue selling quality and popular beers at last year’s prices. And that’s fantastic for us and our customers.

Simon:
That’s brilliant and I haven’t heard of many places that have been able to do that.

Steph:
It's just having to think a little bit more about things as to how we can still maintain our standards.

Simon:
What is apparent is you look for opportunities, even with everything that's been thrown at you all the time.  You're always looking for solutions and I think that's great because at the end of the day, you are always looking out for your customers.

"Ensuring a 'value for money' service"

Neil:
We could lose a lot of money very quickly if we reacted by immediately putting our prices up. Of course at some point it may well be necessary. We'll never compromise on quality or ensuring good value for money, but we’ll always look for other cost saving opportunities first because at the end of the day, our customers don’t want a price increase and we’re not in the business of losing customers!

We love this place. We're very proud of it. We built it from a pretty dire start. And there's no better feeling than to see people enjoying coming to our pub; enjoying the food that we're serving, enjoying staying in the rooms and then telling people and bringing other people in. And it happens on a daily basis. And that keeps us going and gives us great personal satisfaction.

That's our job and livelihood. And what else is good is seeing what we think people want is actually what they want. And yes, of course there's always going to be some we can’t please.  We know we can't please everybody, but we’ll always try.

Simon:
But you'll listen to what they're saying, and you can then make the judgement whether it’s something worth considering or not.

"The importance of having good staff"

Neil:
Absolutely. And I’ll tell you something else, we are proud that we are a country pub. I’ll never accept that ‘country pub’ means ‘bad food’. Absolutely not. You know, it doesn't have to mean ‘processed food’ either. Now we're very lucky with having a great chef. He’s very flexible - a very good guy which makes a change, ‘cause good chefs are often quite hard work to deal with.

Steph:
Yeah. It does make our life easy.

Neil:
And it's important. And we wouldn't be where we are without the staff who have been fantastic. It took us a little while to get the right staff, but we consider ourselves very fortunate now to have a great team that we can rely on to carry out our values. It allows us to have the occasional day off!

Simon:
A lot of places can't say that. I hear it all the time from businesses who have problems finding and recruiting the right staff.

Steph:
We are very, very fortunate with that.

Simon:
But that's down to you as well, the way you treat and respect your staff.

Neil:
Well, that's my wife, obviously not me!

 
Simon & Steph:
Oh, of course. <laughs>. Absolutely!

Simon:
But in all seriousness, I think together you obviously run a good pub. And I think your experience and love of the industry, has helped identify how to run a good country pub no matter what. And from what I’m seeing, I think you're hitting it absolutely fine. So it's just a case of ‘more of the same’?

Neil:
Do you know, one of the strangest things people ask me nearly every day is, ‘why haven’t you put your prices up?!’

Simon:
What? I presume that’s your competitors??

Neil:
<laughs>. No, not my competitors, but people who actually drink here. They're happy but they can’t understand why we haven’t put them up. I don't want it. Obviously, we will if we have to, but there’s usually another option if we look for it.

The business of course has to make us a living and it does at the prices where we are, but we will always endeavour to provide high quality and offer great value for money, and that I think is probably one of the most important things that we can do.

Simon:
Thank you both. Thanks very much for your time.

See our feature page on The George at Ashley on thebestof Market Harborough website here.

Simon Perry -  The Bestof Market Harborough

The George at Ashley
21 Main Street
Ashley
Leicestershire
LE16 8HF

Tel: 01858 565900
Web: www.thegeorgeatashley.com