John Walsh, The Golden Pheasant, Biggleswade
Charles Wells Pub Company’s second Speciality Beer House, The Golden Pheasant, is flying high.The Biggleswade pub is enjoying a real renaissance since it became a showcase for Wells & Young’s great cask line up.
Licensee John Walsh, pictured, said: “We went from one cask to six overnight and it is really selling fantastically well.”
John took on the small pub – with capacity for around 60 customers – in April, and ran it for a month before it closed for a week for refurbishment.
“The clientele has changed completely, and for the better,” said John.
“It has become the kind of pub where families can come, and people can just sit and chat, without a juke box, gaming machine on Sky TV.”
Wells Eagle Bitter remains the best seller, and along with Wells Bombardier, is always on offer. “Young‘s Bitter goes well, and so does Waggle Dance – I sold the last one in two days. I can’t get enough Courage Directors Bitter either, that goes in two and a half days.”
Among the guest ales, which do good business at The Golden Pheasant, is St Austell’s Tribute.
Bottled ales are selling well too – especially Wells Satanic Mills and Burning Gold, and Young‘s Double Chocolate Stout.
The Speciality Beer House concept is working perfectly to plan, drawing in followers of cask ale from a wide geographical area – and not just the UK!
This month a local town twinning committee brought along a group from their twinned town in Germany. “They came here because they knew we had a wide variety of ales,” said John. The 50-strong party virtually filled the pub.
Quality is key for John. “Cellar management is very important, especially as my cellar is small. You have to store the barrels in the right order to get more in when a delivery arrives. Stock rotation is vital.”
John, who has been in the trade for many years, runs the pub with two part-time members of staff. They provide paninis and drayman’s lunches, as well as Sunday lunches.