Our rural pub: the Wheel Inn
Licensees: Marie Richards and Pete Walters
Pub: The Wheel Inn
Location: Pennington, near Lymington, Hampshire
Time in the pub: 21 months
Staff: 2
Sales mix: 70% wet/30% dry
GP: 62% wet/57% dry
Website: www.thewheelinnpub.co.uk
What are the best things about your pub?
"Well-kept ales, good affordable food, super atmosphere, and friendly hosts who are prepared to go that extra mile. We are a traditional village local, very unmodernised, right on the edge of the New Forest and five minutes from Lymington and the ferry to the Isle of Wight."
What are the biggest challenges facing your pub?
"Getting people through the door! The pub's reputation from the past, the decor and outside appearance. Ineffective marketing strategies and possibly the food offer. Neighbour complaints, the economy and our outgoings."
What are your current plans to cope with them?
"We will continue to provide affordable drink and food and a place to escape from the stresses of the current economic climate. By keeping a close eye on our finances we are able to see where the money is at any particular time and can see when we need to cut back."
What do you hope to learn from Sell More Save More?
"The pub has a chequered history and had been run down before we took over. Then the recession hit - joy! We have taken the pub from zero to £2,500 a week. We are complemented on our food, we have just been placed in the Good Beer Guide, but something is missing.......this is where I hope that Sell More, Save More can give us that missing ingredient."
