East and West Midlands

Litten Tree

Hereford, Herefordshire

Value for money and attention to detail are the watchwords at the Litten Tree in

Hereford. It's a policy that's bringing in the customers, say joint managers Paul Neades and Beckie Ellsum.

Their relentless efforts over the past year including a spot of redecorating work are paying off with a healthy increase in trade at the Laurel Pub Company's city centre

outlet.

Value for money, not discounts

"We pride ourselves on not being a price-led outlet, but one offering the customer value for money and excellent standards and service," says Paul.

Paul, Beckie and members of staff are all prepared to muck in to keep the site in

tip-top condition.

Paul explains: "We have done some of the work ourselves because you have got to keep on top of it to stop things slipping. We bought flowers for the beer garden and repainted the fencing so it looked at its best during the summer."

Braille menus introduced

He and Beckie have also made the pub "disability friendly" by linking up with the Royal National Institute for the Blind to produce a Braille version of its menu for their visually-impaired customers. They believe they were the first in Hereford to come up with the idea. "It opens another market up to us and gives the customer more independence," says Paul, who is always looking to improve food sales at the pub, which has an 85:15 (wet-dry) split.

Training and more training

He continues: "Our aims were to increase sales and standards by re-training our team to up-sell and help the customer with their orders. We have regular meetings and debriefings to keep the staff aware of all aspects of the pub because things are changing all of the time."

Paul, who has also run outlets in Wolverhampton and Ross-on-Wye, constantly stresses to his staff that the customer is king. "After all, without them, a million pounds invested would mean nothing," he says.