The responsible Cheese

When Maddie Lavin took over the Hull Cheese with her partner Peter Townend, the city centre pub was in dire straits.

"The pub was failing," says Maddie. "There had been a pub support company in for about three or four months before we took over, and it was only taking about £3,500 a week, which was a bit pathetic considering there was capacity for about 400."

Almost two years later, the Hull pub has been turned around, culminating in Maddie and Peter winning Marston's Socially Responsible Retailer (SRR) prize at the pub company's recent awards.

"It was very gratifying," says Maddie, who came to the Cheese after a successful stint at another Hull bar. Of the Cheese, Maddie says: "It's a traditional pub in the city centre, and we saw it as something of a sleeping giant. It's always had a history of being a man's place, and to be honest it was thought of as a 'hairy-arse lorry driver's pub'! It had a reputation of being filled with hard men who you shouldn't pick a fight with."

While Maddie says that the pub has kept most of its previous regulars, the character of the place has been transformed. After a re-decoration aimed at attracting new customers, attitudes began to shift. But Maddie emphasises that the most important weapon in running a responsible pub is the attitudes projected by its licensees.

"Our bottom line is that you do not mess about," she says. "You can come in and have a good time, but we're very aware that we're selling a volatile product and there are boundaries which you do not cross, or you'll be out.

"Behaviour wise, we just ask 'would you do that in your living room?'. If people come in and abuse our staff, we simply won't serve them. Lots of licensees tolerate violence and people throwing glasses on the floor, because it's accepted as part of the business. My view is that it only becomes 'the business' if you allow it to get that way."

A resounding success

The SRR award, sponsored by The Publican​, was set up to reward the Marston's pub with the most impressive record in sensible retailing and community relations. Judges praised the Cheese for "setting a great example" in Hull, a city which has encountered difficulties in recent times with dangerous drinking. "Our city centre has been very violent in the past," says Maddie, who prides her pub's rapport with the local police.

"We've had a very good relationship with police, we co-operate with them as partners. We tell them our views and on occasion we've had blazing arguments, but we're honest and I think they respect that. They gave us a reference for the award, which I understand was glowing."

A strong music and pricing policy has helped the Hull Chesse become a resounding success in the city. But perhaps more impressive is the pub's attitude towards younger drinkers. In a climate where competitors have used cheap drinks deals to lure in young people, the Cheese shuns such tactics and instead, takes a sensitive attitude to its younger customers.

"I always think of young people as being someone's son or daughter," says Maddie. "If a lad gets beaten up because he's been aggressive when drunk, I don't want that on my conscience. I try to look after younger customers as I would my own children, in the hope that someone would do the same for me".

Drinkers have flocked to the Cheese in its new, safer incarnation but Maddie is equally proud of the pub's wider reputation within the city: "It's not only about money, although obviously we want to make a living, but we don't do any big discounts or stupid drinks offers. We're respected because we don't play the game that some other licensees play."