Ramsay revolution

Gordon Ramsay has helped turn business around at Lancashire's Fenwick Arms, featured on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares last month. Licensee Brian Rey...

Gordon Ramsay has helped turn business around at Lancashire's Fenwick Arms, featured on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares last month. Licensee Brian Rey

shares the Ramsay experience with David Hancock

Punch licensees Brian and Elaine Rey faced imminent bankruptcy in September, after ploughing £250,000 of loans over three years into the Fenwick Arms in Claughton, Lancashire. Within eight days of Gordon Ramsay's human tornado-like entrance to film his Kitchen Nightmares programme, their future at the pub suddenly looked a lot brighter.

Ramsay's menu-tweaks, his simplification of certain dishes and his success in helping Brian refocus on the business from what had become a 120-hour week, have transformed the pub's fortunes. Weekly covers have increased from about 280 to almost 700 and the annual turnover is expected to increase from £315,000 to £450,000.

Brian explains their involvement with Kitchen Nightmares: "Eleanor, one of my staff and a big fan of Gordon, registered the pub on their website. To this day, we haven't heard about the actual conversation, but she must have said the right things. And all the facts and figures she quoted were spot on. We felt we had nothing to lose by getting involved as we had invested so much time and money in the pub and there's a limit to how long that can last."

Has Brian reverted to his old ways since Gordon left? Well, the classic prawn cocktail is served Ramsay-style (in a glass), but Brian is back in the kitchen because two chefs left straight after the programme was made, and the menu is a tad more detailed than the pared-down version proudly pinned beside Gordon's chef's jacket in a cabinet dedicated to the programme.

As Brian says, "Most of the dishes on the current menu were dishes we had offered before, and most of them were on Gordon's menu. He only added two dishes, but he changed the way we did it and the way we worded the menu. That made the difference."

He adds, "Our current menu blends our old style with Gordon's. When we started using his version, some people stopped coming here, saying that they could find sausages and mash anywhere.

"We told them that it was essentially the same menu and one evening Elaine typed it up using the old wording, which they preferred, saying that it made the dishes sound more interesting and exciting.

"That's why I'm still using some of the Villeroy and Boch plates - customers feel my square plates make the sausages and mash look something special."

Hard to swallow

"Truthfully, it wasn't until seeing how brilliantly [Kitchen Nightmares production company] Optomen had produced the programme and portrayed us that I realised how right Gordon was about everything he told me. The hardest thing for me was being told to simplify the wording of the menu, as I had to move away from what I was doing. He made some good points - especially when he told me to forget about making a different sauce for everything and return to my roots, to what I have been preaching for the past 30 years - keep it simple, don't over-flavour and go for quality."

Customer reaction

"While Gordon was filming at the pub in September, the pub website had 34,000 hits. On the Wednesday after the programme was broadcast, more than 100,000 people logged on, and on our Real Gravy site, messages were coming in at the rate of 20 per second - it was unbelievable. I have been up until 2am answering all the supportive emails, confirming that the programme was a fantastic hour of entertainment. Since the programme was broadcast we have had 2.5 million hits.

"For the Sunday, we stopped taking bookings at 153, wondering how we would cope, then more than 30 didn't make it as a result of the endless queue trying to get into our car park. But we still did 196 covers that day. Last week we did 240 covers and used 15 gallons of gravy."

Best-selling dish post-Ramsay

"When Gordon Ramsay says on national television that you've got the best roast beef and Yorkshire puddings in the country, what a compliment that is. What do you think happened on the Sunday after the programme? Of the 196 meals we served, 149 had roast beef."

Yorkshire pudding

"The recipe is my mother's and I have received hundreds of emails asking for it. I thought about divulging it but have decided to offer it to Gordon if he writes another book. As he's done so much for me, maybe I could return the favour. Gordon said to me, "Before I leave here I want you to teach me how to cook your Yorkshire puddings, because your recipe will be in all my restaurants around the world - that's how good they are!"

Pub facts

Owners: Punch tenancy

Turnover: £315,000 (expected to rise to £450,000)

Number of staff: 19

GP food: 59

GP drink: 55

Covers a week: 300 (pre-Ramsay); 650-700 (post-Ramsay)

Food sales as % of turnover: 75

Gordon Ramsay's Fenwick Arms menu

GREAT BRITISH PUB FOOD SERVED WITH PRIDE

Starters

Roast English tomato soup £3.50