Proud of Your Staff: The Stag Inn, Devon

The team at the Stag Inn, near Tiverton, Devon - the county's oldest pub dating back to 1232 - has been nominated by licensee Mark O'Donnell for the Proud of Your Staff initiative.

Last November a major fire damaged much of the building, less than a week after Mark bought the pub. The fire, which was due to a badly-filled chimney liner, meant the premises lost its roof and the downstairs was flooded.

Despite the devastation, Mark's five-strong team soldiered on, making sure that locals could still come in and enjoy a drink.

"They were brilliant," said Mark. "Amazingly we even managed to open the day after the fire. But by the evening we had to bring out candles and lamps as all the electrics had gone.

"Because so much stuff got damaged my staff brought things such as vacuum cleaners from their homes. They really went out of their way to help."

Since Mark took over the pub he has seen a noticeable rise in takings which he puts down to his hard-working staff. "To them it's not just about picking up a wage packet at the end of the week, it means more to them than that and I think the customers appreciate that as well," he said.