MAKING CHANGES to anyone's local is always potentially fraught with peril, and the more history that's attached to a pub, the more difficult it can be.
Young's has recently negotiated some delicate intensive care at the Flask in Hampstead, North London, persuading regulars that an extensive refurbishment would not change the essential character of the much-loved pub.
Located close to Hampstead Heath, the Flask's name reflects the area's importance to London's public health in the days when most of the capital's waterways were little more than open sewers. Londoners would climb up to Hampstead village and fill leather flasks with pure spring water.
The water was also bottled and sold at threepence a flask in the village pub - the Thatched Cottage - on the site where the Flask now stands. Much more recently, the pub was a haunt of the area's more creative residents, including comedian and writer Peter Cook - a man who knew a decent pub when he found one.
Against that background, the decision by Young's to include the Flask on its list of managed pubs earmarked for refurbishment was understandably cause for concern among regulars.
In a pub that has traditionally been known as a boozer, albeit an upmarket one, plans to develop a food trade inevitably caused the dreaded word that grips the entrails of pub traditionalists with fear to be whispered around the public bar - 'gastropub'.
Having recognised those fears, Young's has worked hard to reassure the regulars. The Grade II-listed building, which dates back to 1874, has seen its fireplaces, tiling and wood panelling restored to their original condition.
In the public bar - while customers might note that the pub is considerably less smoky and nicotine stained than previously - there have been relatively few changes.
Elsewhere in the pub a lounge and eating area has been added, aiming to attract new customers. The menu reflects the pub's Victorian heritage, with a nod to traditional London chophouses. The Flask is sourcing as much food as possible locally, including meat from Steele of Hampstead, a longstanding family-run butcher. Other specialities of the house include a jellied eel and cockle platter and a traditional Victorian dish known as Po-Boy - basically an oyster sandwich.
Development of the menu has been spearheaded by Karl Bashford, previously at the Marquess of Anglesey in Covent Garden, another Young's pub. "Alongside the menu we run daily specials, also using local produce," explains Karl.
To help persuade the existing regulars to engage with the food side of the operation, a bar menu has been developed which features delights such as homemade pies, sausage rolls and mini toad-in-the-holes. "It's all traditional pub food, and I'm really pleased to see them eating it," says Karl.
The pub has extended its existing range of cask beers, reflecting the expanded Wells & Young's range, with five beers on the bar. The wine list includes English wines from the Three Choirs vineyard in Gloucestershire.
Patrick Dardis, retail director of Young's, says: "The Flask is a unique and special London pub. The refurbishment has been designed with care to retain the original character and appeal to its regular customers while improving the attraction to London's new breed of pub-goers by enhancing the quality of the food offering."
The job of ensuring that the pub's various 'constituencies' all get along has fallen to manager Natalie Satchell, who has worked her way through the company's trainee management programme to become, at 25, the youngest manager in the estate. "Everyone gets on fine," she says. "New customers love it, and the old ones can't understand what they were worried about."