The Plough Inn Wingfield - Fullers Tenants Extra article 2009

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Fuller’s Pub Profile - from Fuller's Tenants Extra magazine 2009

Roger, Theresa and the team from The Plough Inn, Leighton Buzzard

Fully briefed from Mike Clist on my next assignment, I headed for familiar territory, the Bedfordshire countryside. Mind you, my intimate knowledge of the winding country roads was not as good as I recalled and I found myself...how can I put this?...a little lost. It was with some relief that I spotted a sign in the hedgerow pointing me in the right direction for the pub.

I arrived at this lovely thatched pub way before opening time. There was something very calming and idyllic about the setting. However, when I opened the door, narrowly missing my head on a beam (thank goodness for the Duck or Grouse sign), I was met with a hive of activity.

Fred the chef was negotiating hard on the phone with a supplier, Theresa was being sold the merits of a certain very smart looking coffee machine by an equally smart looking coffee machine salesman, Roger had just made his way up from the cellar safe in the knowledge that the Pride was perfect for his customers and Buster, their adorable Golden Labrador, was helping out where ever he could.

Before I go on any further, I should explain that Roger and Theresa are the lovely landlord and landlady of the The Plough Inn, Fred is the chef and, as you will discover later on, Buster is one of the main reasons The Plough is always so busy!

All four join me at a table in the bar for a chat. After several false starts (we were interrupted by a customer ringing to book a table, a part time member of staff arriving for work, the coffee salesman throwing in a final parting pitch and a coughing fit from Buster) we began.

I really wanted to get under their skin and find out what makes this team tick. But all that aside for a moment. My opening gambit, my first deep and probing question was much more important – I ask the beautifully tanned Roger and Theresa where they had been on holiday. It transpired they had enjoyed two weeks of glorious sun during a well-deserved break in Cyprus.

Actually, it was for this reason that Mike Clist suggested I head to The Plough Inn for this month’s Tenants Extra Pub Profile. You see, Mike had visited the pub whilst Roger and Theresa were away and was really impressed with the quality of service and smooth handling of the business by those left behind.

What makes this all the more impressive is the fact that the person doing the majority of bar relief fell ill almost immediately into the two week period and the staff had to come together and, as Fred tells me, “just deal with things.” Roger and Theresa only found out about all the drama upon their return.

“I couldn’t believe it.” Theresa tells me, “I was so shocked to find out they had coped with it all without even so much as sending us a text.”
“Well you don’t want someone ringing you about work when you’re on holiday, do you,” says Fred with a definite pride in his voice.

The Plough Inn is Roger and Theresa’s first pub. They have been here for four years now.
“I used to work in pubs many moons ago,” explains Theresa, “but this is the first where I have been the landlady.”
“I used to be in the construction business,” Roger tells me.
“How long for?” I ask.
“Since the war!” quips Fred.
Buster coughs. Theresa smiles.
“Not quite that long, but a fair old while,” replies Roger.

I ask how they came to end up at this particular pub, in this particular village, and Theresa explains.
“A pub came up in the village we lived in. Long story short, we didn’t get it, but we caught the bug so we started looking online for another pub we liked and found this one.”

“Running a pub is very different to construction I find,” Roger tells me. “Namely, you can’t shout as loudly at staff!”
“Roger was born to be a landlord,” Theresa tells me.
“I wish I’d done it years ago,” adds Roger.

I ask Roger if he would advise would-be tenants to join the industry.
“Definitely” is his immediate reaction. He quickly adds a caveat “But people who say they want to retire or change direction and run a nice pub in the country are kidding themselves. Running a pub is not retirement!” He adds a shorter, more straightforward, second caveat, “tell them it is bloody knackering.”

Looking back over other Tenants Extra Pub Profiles I have found that most new tenants’ strategy has been to take a pub somewhat down on its luck, make significant changes and reap the rewards. It isn’t the case here at The Plough – Roger and Theresa have a different strategy.

“You could say we spruced up the place a bit but we were lucky in the sense that this was already a fantastic country pub,” says Theresa. “The couple previous to us had worked hard and got it up to a really high standard. Our challenge was to keep it up at that level once we took over, which isn’t always easy.”

“We didn’t want to come here and start making changes left, right and centre,” continues Roger. “The locals who come in this pub knew it and loved it for what is was, and if we had made any drastic alterations we wouldn’t have endeared ourselves to them.”

They have a very much “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” strategy. Roger explains it a little more succinctly when he tells me “It takes a long time to build a reputation, but no time at all to lose it.” Wise words.

“We did want to make our own mark on the place though,” Theresa tells me, “and did this by adding small touches here and there to build upon the existing formula.”
“What king of “small touches”?” I ask.

“It was really around the food initially. It was never on our agenda to turn The Plough into a dedicated restaurant, which can sometimes happen to country pubs without any realising it.”

Roger interjects “We were always going to run the place as a pub serving good food not a restaurant with a bar and we have maintained that.”

“We changed the menu but only slightly,” Fred adds. “It is made up a good British pub grub that people like. Our most popular dishes are fish pie, liver and bacon and steak and kidney pie, we just gave them an extra twist.”

“One thing that people love about our menu is that we don’t charge extra for any sides – things like veggies or chips,” Theresa tells me. “In some places you end up paying double because you have to order everything else separate to your steak.”
“Do you do a Sunday roast too?” I ask.

“Yep,” Fred tells me, “we serve beef, turkey or lamb plus all sides, which includes five vegetables, for £8.25.” With that same pride he had in his voice a few minutes ago, he lists the veg. He talks about his gravy and his roast potatoes too. I make a mental note to bring Mum along very soon.

“There’s a carvery just down the road that does a roast all week at £3.25, it’s more on a Sunday though!” Theresa pipes in. “God knows where they get their meat from! I’d rather charge a bit more for something that is a lot better in quality.”

I ask them where they get their meat from and Fred tells me that it’s from a family butcher in Toddington.

“He’s very good,” says Theresa. “Nothing is ever too much trouble” she adds “The sausages we have here are made by him especially for us using London Pride,” Fred informs me. “Whenever I need some more, I take a few pints of Pride down to his shop and he makes them for me. People are even buying them frozen from us for their barbeques.”

Still on the subject of food, Roger tells me about the banning of the phrase “that’ll do” in very early days of their tenure at The Plough Inn. Fred gives me an example, “If someone orders ham, egg and chips and the yolk of the egg breaks, I will start again. I think people would rather wait an extra five minutes for better food.”

At this point Buster returns to the table. I suspect he had snuck outside to take the country morning air.

“You know, people come in just to see him,” Roger tells me, gesturing toward Buster. “They walk up to the pub, see him and say, “oh look, there’s Buster”, not “oh look, there’s the handsome landlord!”

“Someone rang to look a table a few weeks ago,” he carries on, “and said “is that The Plough Inn with the beautiful Golden Labrador?”

Buster obviously has star quality and is a big draw for the pub.

It is noon now, and as the pub starts filling up with lunchtime diners, I ask them how they market themselves to the public.

“Well, we have a sign in Robert’s field that pulls in people,” Roger says. (The same sign that prevented me from arriving late)
Of course! Robert...”Who’s Robert?” I ask.
“Robert is a slightly eccentric local land owner”, explains Theresa. “We pay him in wine bottles at Christmas so it’s quite a good deal.”

“We also have our own website which is up and running – www.theploughinn.com.” Theresa tells me as Roger feels the need to tell me that Robert also mows their lawn every so often.

“Will you stop interrupting,” scolds Theresa before she carries on telling me about the website and how they bought the domain name from someone in Canada and their strategy for moving it up in the Google listings.

“Also, word of mouth is how we get a lot of people through the door,” adds Roger. “We are connected with quite a few local teams and clubs who use the pub as a base.”

I ask him which teams. All three of them I think were surprised by the number of societies, clubs and associations he managed to rattle off.

“The Plough Inn has its own cricket team, golf society, two crib teams and two dominoes teams. As well as these, we have numerous clubs who hold meetings here. The Rover Club, the Norton Bike Club, the Ford Motor Club and the Diving Club.” He pauses for breath, “oh not forgetting the Phoenix Rifle Club and the local choir, who use the pub as their HQ.”

Now that really is how you make your pub the hub of the community!
“Oh and I’m head of the local sports club too,” Roger adds. No wonder he told me running a pub is knackering.

From the sound of things, Roger and Theresa have a great pub and a great team of people behind them delivering a fantastic country pub experience to their drinkers and diners.

I get my things together, as it looks like the pub is about to have a busy lunch service, while the couple tell me their plans for the future.

“We want to build on what is already here in terms of standards and service whilst also maintaining the standards that our customers have seen up until now,” says Theresa. “This is a listed building so we can’t make the place bigger or make any drastic changes, which suits us just fine.”

What’s their recipe for future, sustained success? I ask. “We have to make sure that we don’t get complacent and lost sight of what is already here,” Theresa says.

As Roger walks me to my car he reminds me of something he told me earlier, “it takes a lot of time to build up a reputation but no time at all to lose it.” I definitely think that is a very true statement that, unfortunately, some people have learnt the hard way.

And with this thought, I drive off safe in the knowledge of two things; One – Mum will fall in love with Buster when I take here there for Sunday Lunch next week and two – Roger, Theresa, Fred and the team at the Plough Inn will continue to raise their game and deliver a fantastic country pub experience to anyone who walks in through their door.