Proud of Your Staff: Royal Oak, Cheshire

At the Royal Oak in Cheadle, Cheshire, the staff have loyalty stamped through them.

When licensee Tony Dunn and his wife Helen took on the community local following his departure from his previous pub, he feared he would have a staff crisis on his hands.

But they did him proud, and followed him into his new surroundings.

Tony says: "They're fantastic. Not many pub's staff would do that. We would have been lost without them."

The Royal Oak, a real community pub which has two darts teams and a popular quiz night, even has a mother/daughter barmaid combination, Claire and Stacey, who cover shifts for each other.

"They're so good. I'm never left short by them," says Tony. "It's gotten to the point now where I'm starting to think of them as the same person!"

Tony also makes a point of praising barmaid Susan Unwin who, along with her husband Dave, goes as far as looking after the pub when Tony and Helen are on holiday. Now they are looking at taking on their own pub.

He adds: "Everyone gets on really well. On Friday and Saturday night when we're getting hammered, everyone pulls together and no-one gets flustered."