North: Farmers Arms
Heskin Green, Lancashire
Little that goes on in Heskin Green escapes the watchful eyes of veteran licensee Malcolm Rothwell. Malcolm has been in the pub trade for almost 30 years, 17 of them spent at the village's Farmers Arms, where he and his family have built up a thriving business with a community atmosphere all of its own.
Three generations of Rothwells work in the business looking after a wide cross section of customers who have helped make the Farmers one of the best-known pubs in Central Lancashire.
It's a pub that manages the difficult balancing act of mixing a village local with a destination food and family venue. The tap room is the domain of the locals, many of them fathers and sons. The lounge and dining areas attract a whole host of different customers, including families, businessmen and older generation lunchtime diners.
When the Rothwells came to the Farmers in 1985, the pub was small village inn and uncompromisingly wet-led. The family introduced food from day one and steadily built up the catering to an extent where it now forms the core sector of the business.
Malcolm reports: "We started with a very limited menu, but today we have 50 regular choices of food and always 16 daily specials on offer, servicing some 50 dining covers."
Eight letting bedrooms are also available, attracting a mix of business guests during the week and leisure stayers at the weekend who come to enjoy the nearby Camelot Theme Park and a wealth of other local attractions.
The pub's spacious garden, adorned in summer with the blooms of 1,300 bedding plants, is an attraction all of its own.
Malcolm says: "Despite our cosmopolitan trade, we have managed to retain the local touch, particularly in the tap room where the locals congregate. It's a real dads and sons room, especially on weekday evenings and Sunday lunchtimes."
Malcolm and wife Ann are now helped in the business by son Andrew and his wife Sue, while father Jim Rothwell is still chief "bottler up".
The family prides itself in its choice of cask ale, with four always available, ranging from Boddingtons, Flowers and best-seller Landlord from Timothy Taylor together with a weekly guest beer.
Malcolm adds: "The pub used to be known as the Pleasant Retreat, but changed its name in 1902. However, I still like to think that is the image we conjure up for people in the village."
