MY PUB: The Lamb Inn, Axbridge, Somerset

The Liberation Group-owned site retains many of its original features and a front terrace plus back garden for those currently enjoying the British summertime and even during winter with its firepit.

Here, manager Sarah Godwin tells The Morning Advertiser​ all about the pub.

The pub​

Axbridge is a medieval town and the Lamb Inn is in the centre. It’s dated as mid-15th century, with cosy nooks and an open fire, flagstone floors and tiered gardens.

The skittle alley still has the original stable flooring in parts and, from the yard at the back, you can see the stable doors outline from when the pub was a coaching inn. 

The Lamb inn is warm, welcoming and vibrant. We ensure that all our customers receive a warm welcome, whether they are just passing through, here for a holiday or here to stay.

We know all our locals by name and normally their drink is poured and waiting before they even reach the bar. 

We offer a great atmosphere and wonderful eating place for locals and visitors alike. We are dog friendly and family friendly.

The publican​

Prior to working in the pub trade, I specialised in sport and recreation, working in a prestigious private school managing the sports facilities. I started working at the Lamb when I moved to the area in 2017, initially part time as a way of getting to meet the local community.

In 2020, I was offered the role of manager at the Lamb which was an exciting change in career and one that would be a challenge to myself as it was very different to anything I had done before.

The Lamb became my passion and has continued to be so to the present day.

I have been a manager in various roles since 2000, throughout this time I have also had my own family, all of whom are now adults, however, in many of the roles I have had as manager, my children (at the time young adults) worked for me and at the same time attended further education, this has allowed me to see the pressures of work and school on employees from a personal level.

The trade​

Our customers are aged 18 to 100, all are welcome. We have a wide customer demographic although in 2018-19, we had more of an older customer base. This has since changed due to the varied offering we now have at the pub.

We attract local sports teams, we are a haven for music lovers with our monthly live music events, we also attract quiz goers through holding our regular monthly quiz.

We have local town groups who use the pub as a meeting place; the town organising committee, councillors, bell ringers, choirs, sports and social groups, the local knitting club, Axbridge Action group, and the museum trust.

Lots of these groups use the pub on a weekly basis. While some just turn up, others book a private space to hold the meetings. They come to the Lamb because they know there will always be somewhere they can meet and we never charge for any private hire spaces as long as the space is available.

Quite often, on a Thursday evening when the choir members visit, they will happily practise their new songs, which is always a treat to hear them sing. 

Holiday makers and tourists flock to us as we have built a good reputation in the local area for the best place to eat and offer a welcoming and homely vibe. We collaborate with the tourist resorts in the area and the B&B providers, who recommend us to their guests.

We retain the groups through a friendly service and willingness to go above and beyond for them.

Our success over the past two years has been due to the many locals who have supported us, we offer consistency every day which builds customer trust.

Many of our regular customers during the day are of the older age group who come to the pub for company and warmth.

Butcombe offers a loyalty card that allows card holders 25% off on food all day on a Wednesday and pints for birthdays (or a bottle of Prosecco).

The team​

Our team are all local to Axbridge and our customers enjoy the fact that we aim to provide jobs for our local young adults.

We have four permanent kitchen team staff, head chef, sous chef, chef de partie and commis chef, our kitchen porters of which there are six, all work on a part-time basis to fit around their college and social lives. 

Head chef Michelle lives locally and walks to work. Our sous chef Jaco is from South Africa and lives at the pub, he came to us via the Springbok project in which Butcombe went across to South Africa to recruit talented staff under sponsorship.

Christian, our CDP, also lives within walking distance of the Lamb as does Ebony our commis and Izzy our seasonal trainee chef.

Michelle and Jaco work full time, however, the other members of the team work part time to suit their lives.

The kitchen porter team consist of five students all at college/sixth form and Rodney, who is semi-retired. Rodney has been with us since 2016 and lives on-site. He is the best KP in the west and is quite often requested to work with our exec chefs in Butcombe on the big food shows. 

Front of house, we have myself and two other full-time members of the team and eight part time. We have four team leaders and the rest of the crew are part-time front-of-house bar/waiting staff.  

All the team are local and can walk to work. Many of the team are children (young adults) of our local customers, who love the environment we have created within the pub and want their children work within a fun, safe environment where they will learn vital skills for life.

Our team enjoy work, they arrive after a day of college as most of them are still in education and work evenings, usually happy, bubbly and keen to get on with the shift.

We have a relaxed feel at work, which is fun because I feel students who have been working all day in college need to feel that their evening is not going to be tedious or dull.  

Everyone is greeted with a smile and hello; we chat about their day and they feel they are part of the team and Lamb family. We have a few staff who have external personal issues, most of whom feel they have a safe space at work to talk to other colleagues or myself.

The team themselves have a lovely relationship, most of them stay after work for a drink and socialise with each other and friends. 

Most of the team are part time. We have a very flexible approach with regards to work-life balance and a very big understanding of the pressures of college and university on young adults.

All three of my children have worked at the Lamb, one as a chef and two as team leaders having started as front-of-house staff.

The drink​

As a company (Butcombe) we work with local suppliers where possible who arrange deliveries on a circular drop off to the pubs in the area, this reduces travel miles as one company can co-ordinate several drops to our pubs in the county.

We work with Regency Purchasing who source suppliers from the south of England and our menus are based on seasonal produce. 

We have a central team of chefs who plan our menus to use the best ingredients in a variety of ways to allow for many options across our pubs when it comes to varied menus and choice. Training is given to all the chefs within the pubs to get the most from the products we purchase. 

Our brewery is eight miles away from the Lamb and our cider provider Thatchers is only six miles away, which is great because it means that all our drink comes from a local source. The hops wastage from our brewery is fed to the cows of our suppliers of whom we use to buy milk and cheese. 

The food​

Hobbs House, the supplier of our burger buns use regenerative flour for the burger buns.

Our meat supplier Walter Rose Butchers keeps bees to offset the carbon produced from the pigs.

We offer the Too Good To Go bags on a Sunday because we find this is a fantastic way to use up any leftover roasts, but we also save some roast potatoes for putting out on the tables for the customers in the bar area, this is always a nice a touch on a Sunday evening.

Michelle and the team work extremely hard in the kitchen to ensure that nothing goes to waste, putting on daily specials, making food fresh rather than bulk cooking.

Although this means more work for the kitchen team, very rarely do we have wastage of food.  Our pub is a classic pub with food, offering burgers, pies and gammons, fish and chips and all the favourites, along with seasonal choices, which vary throughout the year.

The events​

Our garden is a haven for wildlife with many trees, plants and wildflowers, the garden is a wonderful place to relax and unwind with a pint or two.

Each year, we hold events to attract families of the area by holding special days for the children of the town, Easter Egg hunts, Halloween parties and Christmas discos. 

We have a comedy night twice a year which is organised by a group of comedians and Butcombe, ‘the festival of laughs’ We can seat 60 people for staged events and this has proved to be really popular and sell out within a couple of weeks of being advertised. 

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