Welcome to Debbie's Autumn Special - Inapub Autumn 2020

Welcome to Debbie’s Autumn Special

Publican Takeover

Not many people can say they have reopened their pub twice in one year, but then let’s face it, we’ve never experienced a global pandemic either.

After carrying out an extensive refurbishment to the bar and kitchen at The Rayleigh Arms, we opened for business in June 2019. Then, just like the rest of the nation, we started to have to cancel events like Saint Patrick’s night and Mother’s Day. After running around for months, we numbly shut our doors in March 2020 and waited till Boris said we could reopen. In that time, we realised the business was developing in a way we didn’t want it to and started to consider the positives of closing the pub.

Starting with a clean slate, we felt the business needed to provide a more diverse range of services. Positioned in the beautiful village of Terling on the Essex Way (an attraction for all walkers) we started to write yet another business plan. Immediately we looked at ways to carry on trading during lockdown and after a stint of pie making and grocery deliveries we finally settled on a fish & chips takeaway service. Although we had previously hosted a beer festival, live music, quiz nights and even a treasure hunt (for the kids, I hasten to add), nothing matched the genuine pleasure our customers demonstrated once given the opportunity to buy fish & chips during lockdown. Keeping up the community spirit our homemade brownies raised funds for local charity Kids Inspire, and via Facebook I developed an online comedy quiz by creating a platform called Brit Pub Live where we raised further funds for Refuge.

Fast-forward to the present day. Covid-19 is still here and in the hospitality industry we are working around restrictions to keep our customers safe whilst retaining a pub atmosphere of sorts. Here at The Rayleigh Arms we have continued the takeaway service to include home-made pizza baked in our wood-burning oven. We are also developing an on-site deli and creating sections in the bar areas to cater for small weddings. Local artists are booked to carry out workshops and the buzzword “staycation” has encouraged us to consider bed and breakfast.

It may be the second time we have reopened but this time we are armed with ideas to keep our pub going.

Guest editor Debbie Baisden

Our guest editor for this Autumn issue of Inapub magazine is licensee Debbie Baisden, who runs the historic Rayleigh Arms in Terling, Essex. Debbie is a woman of many talents, juggling her busy career as a licensee with a second role as a stage performer bringing to life characters like pub landlady Dolly Slatemen, who we meet in this issue in our Plate or Slate section. The recent pandemic has led Debbie to completely reinvent the Rayleigh Arms and she has reopened with a new passion for what she does...

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