Trailblazer for the trade

by RICHARD MOLLOY

‘God I bloody hate that name,’ says Geetie, pointing at the floor. ‘Sorry, what?’ I reply, a little startled. ‘Manhole cover. Why is it a manhole cover? That means I can’t go down there!’

“Do you want to go down there?” I ask, recovering a little.

“No, but that’s not the point. Why are things always named after men?”

This was the opening exchange of my meeting with Geetie Singh-Watson MBE at the start of my guided tour of her 17thcentury Devon pub. Despite the chilly walk there, I was suddenly feeling extremely male.

Geetie is passionate about pubs and the environment. Her MBE for services to the organic pub trade was awarded back in 2009 – a decade before most of us even realised how damaging plastic straws are.

She could easily and correctly be described as the source of the organic pub movement, opening the world’s first certified organic pub, The Duke of Cambridge in Islington, in 1998. Geetie engages and educates on all things environmental with a confidence drawn from upbringing, experience and endeavour. It clearly frustrates her that it has taken this long for governments to act: “I grew up on a commune in the Midlands in the 1970s. We did it all – we were recycling, we were organic; we thought about how much we drove. The information was there, it just wasn’t being discussed.”

Her latest venture, The Bull Inn in Totnes, is a stripped-back, eclectic joy. Upcycled furniture-finds and donations mix with subtle lighting. Bare lath and plaster walls somehow add style and thought to the letting rooms and passageways whilst saving the time, expense and environmental impact of periodical redecoration. Narrow strips of carpet on the stairs are enough to deaden the footsteps of guests but are also minimalist and durable – phrases that pop up regularly during our chat.

Wine, spirits, coffee, mixers, food: everything is organic. Well, almost everything. Geetie mentions the phrase “conscious compromise” a few times. “If we feel aligned with the values of a local supplier, we might use them even if their produce isn’t organic.” Co-operatives, community-owned projects and other locally enhancing businesses fall into this ideal. There are also nine No-Bull Rules that form the ethos of the pub and serve to both inform and subtly educate the clientele about sustainability, community and responsibility without preaching.

Draught beer comes from local outfits Stroud Organic Brewery and New Lion, with a bottled range including Sam Smith’s Organic Lager, Hepworth Blonde Organic Lager and Dunkerton’s Organic Cider. Organic is a legally protected word, Geetie explains, and can’t be used on a product unless it’s gone through a certification process.

Organic beers are fairly common these days, but this has not always been the case. Geetie’s reply to my question about the ease of sourcing organic beers alludes to her pioneering dogmatism: “When I opened my first organic pub in Islington, we couldn’t get any draught organic beers, so I persuaded three local brewers to go organic for us. That’s quite cool, isn’t it?” She smiles.

Very cool indeed.

I leave The Bull Inn warm from a wonderful local, organic onion soup, and greatly enlightened about organic produce and the world in general. And as I walk, I look down and, for the first time, notice just how many personhole covers there are in our streets.