another pub to close?
Entrepreneur closes pub after staff do moonlight flit to Poland
By Mark Hughes
A COUNTRY pub owned by one of Cumbria’s best-known entrepreneurs has shut down after his staff did a moonlight flit back to Poland.
And owner Austen Davies says The Centurion Inn, at Walton, is uncertain as to whether the pub will re-open as the new smoking ban has all but killed his trade.
The pub, on the Hadrian’s Wall route, closed its doors last month after the two women managing it disappeared overnight – leaving a note on the door explaining they had gone home to Poland.
Mr Davies, who has had The Centurion Inn for the past five years, said: “Everything was fine on the Sunday when they closed the pub, but when my wife went there on Monday morning she found a note on the door which said they had gone back to Poland.
“We were very disappointed because we had known them for more than a year. We took them in and gave them jobs and a home and this is how they re-pay us.
“I suppose you’ve got to laugh when you think of the circumstances, but I can tell you, it wasn’t funny at the time.”
Mr Davies’ wife, Jackie, and son, Cy, ran the pub for four weeks after the women’s sudden departure, but he said sticking with that arrangement wasn’t viable.
Mr Davies, who owns Border Country Foods, added: “They have both got full-time jobs and so couldn’t keep doing their day jobs as well as running the pub. We had to make a decision.
“If the pub had been packed every night then we would have kept it going but it isn’t.
“The truth is the smoking ban has hit us hard.
“Through the spring right up until autumn we are very much a walkers’ refuge and we get a good flow of people walking the wall coming in.
“But come October, and that is all but done, we are dependant on local trade and we have seen that disappear to the smallest of trickles since July.
“This is a farming area and most of our clientele are smokers.
“They like to go out for a beer and a smoke. Since that has been taken away from them they are not coming to the pub.
“It was a horrible decision to close the place and I say that from a very serious standpoint.
“I thoroughly look forward to my pint at the end of the day and I know many others do too. With no pub in the area we have nowhere to go.”
But while it may appear that last orders has been called for the final time in The Centurion Inn, Mr Davies says he is still mulling over his long-term options for the pub, and says it could even open again next year.
He added: “We are down, but we are not out. We are going to use the next few months to refurbish the place and hopefully we will be back open again as soon as possible.
“However, at the moment, I do not know when that will be. There are too many factors to take into account, the principle one being finding someone to work there and run the place.”
http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=555419
By Mark Hughes
A COUNTRY pub owned by one of Cumbria’s best-known entrepreneurs has shut down after his staff did a moonlight flit back to Poland.
And owner Austen Davies says The Centurion Inn, at Walton, is uncertain as to whether the pub will re-open as the new smoking ban has all but killed his trade.
The pub, on the Hadrian’s Wall route, closed its doors last month after the two women managing it disappeared overnight – leaving a note on the door explaining they had gone home to Poland.
Mr Davies, who has had The Centurion Inn for the past five years, said: “Everything was fine on the Sunday when they closed the pub, but when my wife went there on Monday morning she found a note on the door which said they had gone back to Poland.
“We were very disappointed because we had known them for more than a year. We took them in and gave them jobs and a home and this is how they re-pay us.
“I suppose you’ve got to laugh when you think of the circumstances, but I can tell you, it wasn’t funny at the time.”
Mr Davies’ wife, Jackie, and son, Cy, ran the pub for four weeks after the women’s sudden departure, but he said sticking with that arrangement wasn’t viable.
Mr Davies, who owns Border Country Foods, added: “They have both got full-time jobs and so couldn’t keep doing their day jobs as well as running the pub. We had to make a decision.
“If the pub had been packed every night then we would have kept it going but it isn’t.
“The truth is the smoking ban has hit us hard.
“Through the spring right up until autumn we are very much a walkers’ refuge and we get a good flow of people walking the wall coming in.
“But come October, and that is all but done, we are dependant on local trade and we have seen that disappear to the smallest of trickles since July.
“This is a farming area and most of our clientele are smokers.
“They like to go out for a beer and a smoke. Since that has been taken away from them they are not coming to the pub.
“It was a horrible decision to close the place and I say that from a very serious standpoint.
“I thoroughly look forward to my pint at the end of the day and I know many others do too. With no pub in the area we have nowhere to go.”
But while it may appear that last orders has been called for the final time in The Centurion Inn, Mr Davies says he is still mulling over his long-term options for the pub, and says it could even open again next year.
He added: “We are down, but we are not out. We are going to use the next few months to refurbish the place and hopefully we will be back open again as soon as possible.
“However, at the moment, I do not know when that will be. There are too many factors to take into account, the principle one being finding someone to work there and run the place.”
http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=555419
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