Yahoo News 'We'd never run a pub before' - meet the novice couple behind award winning Lancashire pub
A married couple are behind a very successful pub in Lancashire having won five awards this year alone.
Not only is that impressive as a solitary statistic, but Stephen and Tom Howarth have only been running the White Hart pub in Sabden for just over two years. So far, their popular watering hole has won awards including UK Business Awards Restaurant, Ribble Valley Business Customer Friendly winner (and hospitality finalist) and Hospitality Business of the Year (Regional).
LancsLive were even lucky enough to visit the pub during a visit to Sabden, exploring the culinary delights of the pub, it's friendly staff and quiet backdrop of a village surrounding by rolling hills and covered in rich history. Talking to Stephen Howarth, one half of the successful landlording duo, we learnt a little bit about why the pub is so successful.
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Stephen said: "We do world food nights, we provide entertainment that the locals like. We provide really good food which people will travel for, so we've sort of managed to do a really tricky balancing act between providing local entertainment, but then also getting people in to eat the food."
With all the accolades, you may think Stephen and Tom are well-versed in the field of hospitality, but in reality, it's the first time for both. Stephen worked as Head of Customer Service for a housing association and Tom as a care manager.
"I had a bit of a tricky time towards the end of me leaving there," Stephen explained. "I didn't really want to stay in the industry and Tom was an Extra Care manager at the time.
"I thought, do you know what? I've always fancied running a pub and Tom said, well we can have a look if you want.
"We lived in Barley at the time, so the other side of the hill and a friend at the time said if you haven't run a pub before, go with a brewery like Thwaites. I put the postcode in and this pub came up on the Thwaites website - it just went from there really".
It wasn't all awards and successes as Stephen and Tom had a difficult first year when they opened the pub together. Stephen added: "We opened two years ago in August when all the utility bills went through the roof.
"It's well documented, the difficulties in recruiting chefs in hospitality particularly since Brexit. Last year, we just really struggled to retain chefs so last year was just a bit of a nightmare really."
Thankfully, the couple managed to hire a new chef who Stephen describes as an "absolute godsend". During our visit, we were delighted by some food, including their famous hanging skewers and even their small plates - pan-fried king prawns, garlic and stilton mushrooms and salt and pepper chicken strips.
Not only is Stephen passionate about his pub, but finds himself lucky to live and work in Sabden. He added: "Sabden is traditionally know for its cotton mills/weaving and I have been told that calico had it's first printing mill here that burnt down.
"I've also been told that the first time beer was bottled was in Sabden Brook - but I can't find anything online for this. One of our locals Samantha Oxborough also sang at the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham so put the village on the map. We are very lucky to live in such a beautiful place."
