Award-winning pub opens shop next door

A couple that have won awards for the food and drink at their pub have opened a shop so customers can enjoy their ingredients at home.

Chef TJ Drew and his wife Melanie took on freehouse the Appletree in Marton, Yorkshire, seven years ago and have earned a reputation for creating imaginative menus.

The food is so highly-rated that the Appletree is The Good Pub Guide Dining Pub of the Year 2008.

And earlier this month the innovative couple expanded into a cottage next door.

Melanie explained: "The cottage used to be staff accommodation, then we lived there while work was being done to the pub.

"After we moved back upstairs it was a case of what should we do with it now."

And the idea to turn it into a shop came from listening to customers at the pub.

Melanie said: "Customers are always asking 'where can we get your ingredients?' So we thought 'you can get them from us' and we created the shop."

The shop - The Appletree at Home - sells speciality beers, ciders, wines, ingredients from TJ's kitchen and a range of other local produce that can't be bought anywhere else.

Melanie, who won The Publican's Customer Service Award in 2002 and Business Woman of the Year in 2003, said: "We are very careful to pick things that are not available in supermarkets. It has only just opened but so far it's been going really well."

And even though she is busy running both the shop and the pub Melanie is keen to find the next innovation.

"We try to step back and look at things from the customers' point of view and we are constantly looking for ways to improve things," she said.