Home Counties: Land of Liberty

Peace and Plenty Heronsgate, Herts Maggie and John Moir acquired the unusually named Land of Liberty Peace and Plenty (a reference to the Chartist movement) around two years ago.

With a laugh John recalls: "I've always loved a challenge.

And this was one ­ it was absolutely on its knees and was totally uninhabitable.

The upstairs was abandoned and sealed off.

There was no point in seeing the figures."

The couple had no previous trade experience and John says: "Everyone said we were mad, but we could see the potential."

After 10 months of negotiation, they finally clinched the deal and immediately closed "the Land" for four days to sort out the worst of the mess.

This allowed them to start trading while they planned the rest of the mammoth refurbishment job, which would take months and suck in £40,000 of their savings.

The areas targeted for the work were the kitchen, upstairs accommodation, the building's exterior and the garden.

John explains: "The pub had such a bad reputation, we knew we had to work hard and fast to re-establish a pub, which had a good history and reputation prior to its deterioration."

Maggie adds: "For the first three months, we could be sitting in here on our own ­ it's quite funny looking back now."

One big bonus for the Land was the nearby pubs were either tenanted or managed and therefore tied to their choice of beers.

As a consequence, John and Maggie decided that offering a wide choice of real ales and other premium beers was the way forward.

Five real ales are always on offer together with six Belgian or lager beers John says his punters are quite discerning about their beers "to sell, it has got to be 4.5%

[abv] and they know if it from the first quarter of the barrel or the last quarter".

To keep them happy, the Land has hosted its first beer festival and more are planned.

The lack of accommodation in the vicinity has led to the upstairs of the pub being converted into three letting bedrooms.

A building extension is planned at the rear of the pub to increase revenue from bed and breakfast.

Though wet-led, there is a good selection of home-cooked meals with fresh vegetables.

"No ping, ping food here," says John.

The local community is also well catered for, with events to cover virtually every taste, occasion or celebration.

Maggie says: "We have got to keep on putting forward reasons for people to come out and celebrate."

So far, the Land seems to be pretty good at doing just that.