Ye Old Sun Inn: feeling the warmth

Ashley McCarthy, owner of Ye Old Sun Inn in Colton, North Yorkshire, tells Sonya Hook all about transforming a business, buying the freehold and the challenges of taking on another pub.

About us​

We took on the lease for Ye Old Sun Inn in June 2004 from Enterprise Inns. Before that, I was working at a catering college. We knew that we wanted to run a pub so we had been looking around for a bit, and while we were looking I totally fell in love with a completely different pub that was out of our price range.

Kelly suggested looking at the Old Sun. Initially, I simply ruled it out completely because it didn't have enough space above to house us and our two children. But Kelly had her heart set on it so I agreed to see it. She is the money person, without a doubt, and she had faith that this pub would work for us. Six weeks later, and we were in.

About the pub​

The pub has only three rooms above it, plus a bathroom — and no kitchen — so it wasn't ideal for a family of four. But at the back of the pub there was a derelict barn, which we cleared out and made into a lounge with an upstairs area. We used our own money to do this, but it needed to be done, and it's made a big difference.

When we first took on the pub we moved in on Monday and opened on Tuesday—we had put every penny into it so we couldn't afford to refurbish it straight away. Gradually, we changed the interior though. It was all black and white before, and we added some colour and soft furnishings, plus a new carpet in year two, as well as new signage on the front. It's still the same as it was, but warmer and more homely.

We want it to be a village pub so we encourage the wet trade and quite a lot of locals come here, but that apart, it is the food that has driven the business. There used to be a limited menu, but we use a lot of local producers and change the menu every month. We make whatever we can ourselves — biscuits, bread and so on.

It's really a destination pub and the database we have collected shows that people come from quite far away — places such as Hull, Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, and even Holland!

Freehold​

We bought the freehold in September last year, which was a great move. We had established ourselves by then and developed a good reputation. There were things we wanted to do with the place but we had spent as much as we felt we could under a lease. At the time, we were looking at other pubs because we were told that pub companies never like to sell to tenants. But we asked Enterprise, and, perhaps because of the recession, they said yes.

Now that we have a freehouse pub, we are able to do a lot more with the place. We are just planning to upgrade the kitchen — it was always a bugbear of mine. We did what we could with it before, without knocking it down completely and starting again, but we are now finally able to re-do it entirely.

The work will start in January and it should take a few weeks — it's a time of year when we tend to take a holiday, so it works well to shut for a bit then if we need to. We currently have a delicatessen in the kitchen too, and from January this will be built on to the side as a separate shop. The whole operation is going to cost around £500,000.

Investments​

The deli was something we introduced on the first anniversary of having the pub. I had been doing some cooking demonstrations in the pub and people wanted to buy the ingredients, so the idea was born. We sell local produce such as jams, honey, flour and sausages. There is also a "daily essentials" section and we can do hampers.

We did a few other things with the pub when we took it on — there was a small car park to the left of the pub and a much larger one to the right. We decided to deck over the small one and in year two we used this to create an outside seating area.

There is also a reasonably-sized area of wasteland to the back of the pub, and we now use some of this space to grow things, such as salad leaves. It was a big job and, again, it was at our expense, but we did it because we knew it would benefit business.

Accommodation​

We also now own the house next door, which we bought 18 months ago, and converted to letting rooms. It works well because it is a house as well, so includes the benefits of having things such as a lounge, which we can use for private dining events and for conferences and weddings. It generates further income for us.

And in October last year we also decided to take on a private lease for a second pub, the White Swan, which is a 10-minute drive from here in Wighill, North Yorkshire. Kelly works full-time there at the moment, though we've had a few staff issues so it's not been easy. She should be out of there at the end of this month though, once the training is complete, and then we can oversee things.

The second pub has been difficult — harder than we expected. It really requires relying on staff a lot more than we had before.

The future​

I worked long days as a chef before and, although teaching at the college was slightly better, it was still a lot of hours and I hardly saw the kids. This works well for me and I have a good work/life balance.

We don't plan to buy lots more pubs and we're not aiming to get other people to run the business for us so that we can sit back and relax, but obviously we'd like to feel confident that we can take the kids on holiday occasionally and leave the business in safe hands.

In the future we may look at building more letting houses on the land here, and then maybe moving into the house next door, but that's a while off yet.

Ashley McCarthy's top tips​

• Make sure you stick to your guns. If you have something that is right, stay with it. During the recession many were tightening their belts and looking for cheaper suppliers, but we didn't. We kept on with our quality producers (though in some cases we looked at cheaper cuts of meat, for example). Our GP went down but at least we kept our clientele happy and managed to ride the recession.

• We think our business is a success because Kelly and I are both very hands-on and we're not just sitting around counting the cash. Such an approach helps build a good relationship with our staff.

Facts 'n' stats​

Staff: 5 full-time, 16 part-time

Covers: 70 (plus 70 more outside)

Wet:dry ratio 2004: 90:10

Wet:dry ratio 2010: 34:66

Turnover 2004: £4,000 per week

Turnover 2010: £12,000 per week

Average spend per head: £25 (evening)