The Bell: the tender touch

When Marie Dawes first took on the Bell, in Reigate, Surrey, she decided that it needed an injection of love and a female slant to achieve a better ratio of the sexes. Sonya Hook reports

How I got here​

I took on the Bell, in Reigate, Surrey, four years ago, and prior to that I worked in a Mitchells & Butlers pub, the Minnow, in nearby Weybridge. All in all I have been in the pub trade for around 12 years.

I had previously lived in Reigate and some time ago I ran a pub on the other side of town, but then I went off to do other things. I was really keen to return to the area and a friend of mine works for Greene King, so she let me know when this one came on the market.

That's why it appealed to me really, but also because the pub itself was a good first project. It's not very big, but it needed a bit of love injected into it.

The pub​

When I first took on the pub it looked a little bit run-down. It had once had nice traditional features, but the last licensee removed them, so we had to do quite a bit of work to give it an identity again.

I closed the pub for three weeks and various family members came on board to help — my brother helped a lot. It was hectic, but in the end it was a fun experience.

Greene King were really good to me from the start, and they let me have a rent-free period while I got the pub sorted out. I spent around £15,000 on the interior makeover and they came and repainted the outside, and tidied up the garden with new fences and things.

For the inside, I wanted to return to the traditional feel a bit, but I was keen to create a modern interpretation of an old-fashioned pub. I used modern fabrics with traditional furniture, for example. And I covered the wall with a series of photographs of Reigate as it is now.

One day I plan to source pictures of how it once was, to match up with those pictures, but for now they work well with the pub's interior.

The customers​

The pub already had a good crowd of regulars that came in, so I wanted to make sure they still felt welcome here. Luckily they came straight back after the refurbishment and had no complaints.

We changed our Friday and Saturday nights because it used to have a disco, which I felt was a bit old-fashioned. We don't seem to have lost many customers, but instead we just widened the appeal. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights are the biggest difference to how it was before. The manager here is a member of a local rugby team, so they now all come in here to drink, and other groups of people started coming regularly. It's really busy on those nights, and there's a good atmosphere.

We are close to restaurants and the cinema so we get a lot of casual visitors, and I didn't want this to stop, so I'm careful about any entertainment I put on. Generally, I just like a friendly sociable atmosphere.

Our activities​

It's a very small pub so I didn't want to add lots of regular events because they tend to take over the whole pub! I do some one-off events, sometimes for charity, and these work well.

One of the things I tried out early on was a Gin Festival, with the proceeds going to a women's charity. I'm a big gin lover so I couldn't resist! It was great doing all the research and learning more about gin — I did a full booklet about it. But doing a week was a bit stressful — I'd probably tone it down a bit next time.

It was good fun though and really popular, and we managed to get sponsorship for parts of it, like the quiz. On another evening we had a gin-tasting session, and on the first day we did a jamming session.

We also did a charity race and barbecue one day. On each day I guest-starred a gin, and we had a different gin cocktail on offer. I'm planning to do a rum event next. I think it's a great spin on the traditional beer festival, and it helps to bring in more women too.

Women's role​

I think the female slant was what was missing from this pub before I joined. The gin festival and other elements have helped to grow a better mix for the male/female ratio here.

I like making sure there are flowers in the pub and I also brought in some nice wine glasses from the start, and I think we make a good effort with our wine service. I make sure we have a good selection of wines and I'll update the list if necessary.

I've also made our outdoor area look as nice as possible. There's a nice smoking shelter out there, and the guys who do my hanging baskets are amazing. I recently had all the tables painted in lilacs and blues — it's got a good seasidey feel.

I think this job can give you an excellent work/life balance. The initial year was difficult, but the rewards have outweighed this.

We need to let more women know about this, after all, people skills are essential in this job, and what woman doesn't like a good natter? It's the ideal job!

Future plans​

For the future I do plan to brighten up the pub again — I think regular updating of the interior is important. It could do with a lick of paint inside, and we could also do with a nicer floor — I've noticed that some of the other pubs in the area have updated theirs so I need to look at the interior here too.

It's only a little space in here so there's not much I can do about bringing more people in, but I'll just try to make sure it remains busy for as much of the day as possible.

We're really a wet-led pub, but we have built up a good trade on office lunches. We do a good burger here and a good ploughman's too. I think our range of drinks is good — as well as a good wine selection we've got interesting spirits and a couple of cask ales as well.

I also plan to continue my work with the local community. I'm a member of the local business guild and together we are doing things like campaigning to get new Christmas lights for the town. I also like to buy local where possible, and I do these things because I like living in a nice town, but also because the local people I do business with then tend to think of me when they're looking for a nice pub to have lunch in.

Stats 'n' facts​

Terms: four years into the initial five-year tenancy

Pub company: Greene King

Staff: between seven and eight at any one time

Wet:dry ratio: 80:20