Margaret Patterson, The Old White Horse in Baldock
Licensee Margaret Patterson is using all her experience in the trade to achieve year on year growth of 10 per cent – despite competition from 24 pubs, restaurants and take-aways in the small Hertfordshire town of Baldock.
She has run The Old White Horse for 10 years, under the ownership of four different pub companies in that time.
But since the pub was acquired by Charles Wells, two years ago, trade has been growing.
“I had been pushing for a refurbishment for many a year,” said Margaret. “I had improved the bar myself but I persuaded Charles Wells to do the next phase and it is really paying dividends.”
Phase two saw a large function room made more attractive for informal, intimate dining as well as just major functions. It has had its décor upgraded but crucially, it features electronic flame effect heaters, set in a moveable wall, so that the room can be sub divided.
“The wall heater is on castors so we can move it easily to partition the room. It has given us a greater space and that plus the cosmetic changes have made the room so much more attractive,” said Margaret.
The room can seat 55 people for informal dining and 70 for functions. It has boosted the pub’s food trade, taking the split from 80 wet 20 dry to 65 wet 35 dry. The Old White Horse has two chefs and offers fresh food, cooked to order, seven days a week.
“We sell a lot of wine by the bottle,” she says. “Even people who aren’t eating like to relax with a bottle in the area of the pub where we have sofas. We also have four cask beers on at any time.”
She added: “Most of our growth is a result of the refurb, although we do try to find new ways of attracting people. Even if you are busy today you cannot take it for granted that you will be tomorrow.
“We don’t have any pool, darts or juke box – we have set ourselves up to be different from all the other pubs in Baldock which are community type places offering Sky sports. We are always thinking about events that we can offer.” Margaret uses modern media to advertise events – Facebook and Twitter, and sends emails to a database of 1,000 people.
The pub is already known for the beer festival it has run for 20 years. There will be up to 65 different cask beers on offer at this year’s event on August Bank Holiday weekend.
But before that Margaret is running a cider festival – in its third year now – on the last May Bank Holiday. There will be draught and bottled ciders, with a barbecue and live music.
She will be celebrating St George’s Day with a £35-a-head five-course meal and a comedian – and there will be a wedding breakfast to celebrate the Royal Wedding.
