Yorkshire & THE north east

Fox and Hounds www.foxandhoundscarthorpe.co.uk

Carthorpe, North Yorkshire

For Helen and Vincent Taylor, the central purpose of establishing a website was to generate a new customer base for the Fox and Hounds, and to complement all the hard work that has gone into the family-run freehouse during the last 23 years.

Determined to create something "tasteful but unique" that maintained the essence of a genuine local food pub, the site is full of personal touches relating to the pub, its owners and the surrounding area.

Highlighting the virtues

The in-depth food and drink lists, which include details of all locally-sourced ingredients, epitomise the level of care that has gone into this Yorkshire pub. Similarly, all the

pictures on the site were taken by the family "to try and get across to people that we put everything into our business," says Helen.

There is even a section introducing Helen and Vincent and a brief history of the village.

Instant impact

All marketing for the website was achieved by word of mouth, and has continued throughout their tenure, so the impact was virtually

instantaneous and more than 2,000 visitors were recorded for the first month alone.

Soon, people were ringing from across the country, and even from California, to make

enquiries and book dinner tables.

Early customer feedback has been positive, with the "Contact Us" section of the site

featuring compliments from customers.

Easing the workload

It is early days for the Fox and Hounds

website, but it has already proven a great

financial success while easing the workload for its industrious owners.

Helen is confident the benefits will

continue. "Our website has had a huge

impact on our business and are only seeing the tip of the iceberg," she says.