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Hare & Hound main v1<\/p>\nHare & Hound main v1<\/p>\n
The Hare and Hounds in Bowland Bridge, a few miles from Windermere, is exactly how you\u2019d want a Lakeland pub to be. A pretty 17th-century stone building, whitewashed, with a couple of dormer windows poking up from the slate roof and a view of the fells, it was originally a coaching inn on the route from Manchester to Glasgow.<\/p>\n
It is not, however, looking its best today. We arrive in a proper Cumbrian downpour. It should be warm and welcoming, with a place by the wood-burner to dry out and down a pint of Wainwright, perhaps. But the door is shut, the curtains drawn in one of the downstairs windows and no sign of life through the other. Attached to the front of the building is a sign; not a pub sign (the name of the pub is painted elegantly in grey over the door), this one has another message: FOR SALE.<\/p>\n
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Now and then, The Hare and Hounds<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing how quickly a building starts to degrade when it\u2019s not being used,\u201d says Simon Rayner, who I\u2019m here with. He points to the peeling paint and patches of green lichen; the unkempt flower beds; the bedraggled collapsed parasols over the outdoor tables; a line of forgotten beer barrels along the garden wall, still awaiting collection. \u201cIt needs some love again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rayner grew up in Windermere. As a teenager in the 90s he did a lot of horse riding, and his routes would often take him through Bowland Bridge. \u201cI used to stop and tie the horse up outside the pub, go in and get a Coca-Cola. I remember it always being very busy.\u201d That had a lot to do with the fact that, at the time, the Hare and Hounds was owned and run by legendary Liverpool winger Peter Thompson<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rayner left the Lake District in his early 20s and went to live in London \u2013 for 25 years. Then the \u201chefting\u201d kicked in. It\u2019s a word used about the Herdwick sheep of the Lake District; \u201chefting\u201d (sometimes \u201cheafing\u201d) is the inbuilt homing instinct that compels Herdwicks to return to the place on the fell where they came into the world. \u201cI feel like there\u2019s that for people,\u201d says Rayner, \u201cand that I\u2019m kind of hefted to the area. It\u2019s like a sense of belonging, an anchor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018A part of me feels I\u2019ve let people down\u2019 \u2026 former publican Simon Rayner outside the Hare and Hounds, which is now up for sale.<\/p>\n Returning in 2020, just before the first Covid lockdown, Rayner found that the tenancy of the Hare and Hounds was vacant. He\u2019d always wanted to run a pub; he and his business partner Andrew Black \u201cused to sit in London pubs going, \u2018Wouldn\u2019t it be lovely to have a pub of our own\u2019, for about 10 years. So when this opportunity came around, I phoned him and said, \u2018What do you think?\u2019 And he went: \u2018Well, we can either sit and talk about it for another 10 years, or we can give it a go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n They chose option B. After doing a lot of work on the place, they opened up in September 2021 \u2013 a country pub with food and five rooms. The boy who used to tie up his horse outside and come in for a Coke was now the landlord. Landlord as in running it, not as in the freeholder; the pub was owned by the pub company Admiral Taverns, which was acquired in 2017 by global investment firm, Proprium Capital Partners.<\/p>\n The cosy interior of the Hare and Hounds, with original wood beams, stone walls and fireplace. Photograph: Steven Barber<\/p>\n It went well; they were busy when lockdown lifted because people wanted to go out. \u201cBut they still weren\u2019t really going abroad at that point, so there were a lot of articles about \u2018great places to stay in the UK\u2019, that sort of thing.\u201d The pub featured in the Guardian\u2019s 10 of the UK\u2019s best renovated foodie pubs with rooms<\/a>: \u201cAll the original features have been retained \u2013 beams, exposed stone, fireplace \u2013 with a smart new paint scheme inspired by the Cumbrian countryside.\u201d An 8\/10 review in the Times<\/a> said that they\u2019d got \u201cthe balance just right between spit-and-sawdust boozer and posh gastropub.\u201d<\/p>\n That is what they wanted: a mixture of locals, visitors and tourists. \u201cA place where people come together,\u201d says Rayner. \u201cWhich is what it would have been back in the days when it was a coaching inn; there would have been, you know, Jim who lives up on the fell meeting, I don\u2019t know, Jonathan from Manchester on his way to Glasgow. And they would have been sharing information, news and knowledge, all of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n Nights to rememberA drag queen takes centre stage.<\/p>\n Rayner and Black threw themselves into it \u2013 not just the bar, restaurant and rooms, they also had events: kitchen takeovers; Lebanese nights; butchery masterclasses; a gin-blending session (where they created their own Hare and Hounds gin); even drag bingo, with a drag queen from Manchester calling the numbers. Also, more traditional entertainment, such as a regular pub quiz, with \u201cDave from up on the fell asking the questions. He did it for beer.\u201d<\/p>\n Rayner talks a lot about these \u201cup on the fell\u201d people. Bowland Bridge is a tiny hamlet, just a handful of houses, the pub served the surrounding countryside too. I have this image of Lakeland farmers coming down from the hills in the evening to mix with the tourists over artisan gin and perhaps a spot of drag bingo.<\/p>\n The pub even created its own \u2018Hare of the Hound\u2019 gin.<\/p>\n There was a Wednesday night crowd; a group of regulars, some from \u201cup on the fell\u201d, mostly men (occasionally their wives came too). A couple of them have come to join us today, Martin Scovell and Stuart McGill, to have a nostalgic look at their old watering hole. They\u2019re not from up on the fell but relative newcomers, both from a mile or two up the road, they say.<\/p>\n McGill and his family came to the area from Manchester three or four years ago. They used the pub as a base when they were house-hunting. Then, after they found somewhere, \u201cit was a way of meeting people and getting to know each other. It\u2019s a very basic kind of socialising, but that won\u2019t happen any more if these pubs keep going bump and disappearing off the face of the earth.\u201d Another local pub, the Strickland Arms near Penrith, recently closed. The Punch Bowl up the road from here in Crosthwaite is also for sale. \u201cIn areas like this, it\u2019s so important there are meeting points where people can socialise informally,\u201d adds Scovell.<\/p>\n The bar of the Hare and Hounds was at the front left of the pub and was where the Wednesday-nighters used to congregate. Unless it was sunny, when they\u2019d sit outside. The restaurant, which could seat about 50, was on the other side, behind a curtained window. We walk round to the garden at the back where they had an outside bar in the summer, and some of their events took place. A sign still reads \u201cChildren must be supervised at all times by a responsible adult in the play area and beer garden\u201d, though now it\u2019s only seen by the sheep in the adjacent field. Herdwicks obviously.<\/p>\n What happened? Why didn\u2019t it work? It wasn\u2019t because of a lack of either effort or custom: Rayner and Black threw themselves into it, working seven-day weeks. It was popular and busy, the rooms had an 80% occupancy rate over the year. But their profit margin, which started off small, got chipped and chipped away until it was simply no longer viable, says Rayner. Staff costs, for one, especially for a remote country pub. \u201cYou can\u2019t say: \u2018come and do a two-hour shift, and then another shift later\u2019. Once they\u2019re here, they\u2019re here.\u201d He says industry standard staff costs for a pub with food are about 28% of revenue. \u201cWe were spending 35 to 40% on staffing.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in the day \u2026 the Hare and Hounds in 2011. Photograph: John Morrison\/Alamy<\/p>\n Their utility bills went through the roof. \u201cWhen we took on the pub we were paying something like \u00a31,500 a month on energy bills. At the end we were paying nearly \u00a33,500.\u201d And of course they didn\u2019t own the building. So when Admiral doubled the rent, that was the final nail in the coffin. On 2 November last year, Rayner called time \u2013 on the evening, and on their time running the pub.<\/p>\n I picked the Hare and Hounds in Bowland Bridge. I could have gone to another Hare and Hounds on the Isle of Wight<\/a>. Or the Coore Arms near Northallerton<\/a>, the beautiful Old Rectory in Stockport<\/a>, the Kings Head in Cubbington<\/a>, the Rising Sun in Macclesfield<\/a>, the Red Lion in Bolton<\/a> (or any number of Bolton pubs<\/a>). I could have picked any of the pubs on the Facebook groups Closing Time \u2013 A Lost Pub Site<\/a> or Britain\u2019s Lost Pubs<\/a> that record closures and show sad pictures of boarded-up and falling-down boozers. I could have gone to any of the hundreds of London pubs<\/a> that have recently shut. I could have gone to my own former local, the Queensbury in Willesden Green<\/a> \u2026 Actually, no, I couldn\u2019t; it got torn down, the luxury flats replacing it are nearly completed.<\/p>\n The forgotten beer barrels, awaiting collection outside the pub.<\/p>\n Pubs in England and Wales are now closing at a rate of two a day<\/a>, according to the most recent figures from the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA). The UK has lost over 2,000 pubs since 2020<\/a>, and over 16,000 since 2000. Admiral, which owns 1,350 pubs in the UK, sold 77 last year. Stonegate, Britain\u2019s biggest pub chain with over 4,300 pubs, sold more than 100 pubs last year<\/a> and was reported to be exploring the sale of over 1,000<\/a> in response to falling sales and spiralling debt costs. Another big chain, Greene King, has said 150 of its pubs will be put up for sale<\/a>, because of soaring costs and \u201cchanging consumer behaviour\u201d. In the longer term, over the past couple of decades or so, \u201cthere have obviously been changes in demographics, fewer people drinking, competition in leisure, socialising in different ways,\u201d says Andy Tighe, chief strategy and delivery officer at the BBPA. \u201cAll those things have meant we\u2019ve seen a decline in pub numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n A balance between spit-and-sawdust boozer and posh gastropub.<\/p>\n That downward slope has got steeper in the past four or five years. The pandemic was something of an experiment; the first time pubs had been closed since \u2026 well \u2026 for ever (even world wars didn\u2019t close them). \u201cOn a positive side, people realised just quite how much they missed it when they couldn\u2019t go to the pub,\u201d says Tighe. The pandemic was a reminder of how much we love the pub in this country. \u201cBut of course then you have the cost of living crisis and everyone having to be careful how often they go out and how much they spend when they do.\u201d Ironically perhaps, Covid also showed us that we could stay in and have a glass of wine at home rather than go to the pub.<\/p>\n The biggest challenges, says Tighe, are on the other side of the bar, and here he echoes Rayner in Cumbria: \u201cIt\u2019s really been the cost of running those pubs, which has risen and risen and risen, that\u2019s driven the closures we\u2019ve seen over the past couple of years. Employment costs, increases to the national minimum wage, the national insurance increase in the autumn 2024 budget, energy, food and drink inflation. Plus the already eye-watering tax burden that pubs face \u2013 a pound in every three goes to the taxman, whether that\u2019s beer duty, VAT, business rates, employment taxes. It has all meant that even really good operators running busy pubs can\u2019t make it profitable.\u201d<\/p>\n The sector hasn\u2019t exactly been raising a glass to the government lately. Several pubs even barred Labour MPs<\/a> this Christmas in protest at their lack of support. But didn\u2019t Rachel Reeves\u2019 U-turn on business rates<\/a> for pubs in January help? \u201cIt is significant and does at least, from a business rates perspective, provide breathing space and clarity for the next three years,\u201d says Tighe. \u201cAfter three years, though, the uncertainty will return. That\u2019s what you\u2019ll be thinking if you\u2019re considering taking on, say, a five-year lease.\u201d The BBPA would like lower rates of VAT on food and drink (including alcohol), and reduced beer duty. \u201cThe chancellor did take a penny a pint off draught duty in the budget of 18 months ago, but all the other measures in the budget effectively meant publicans had to add on 20p.\u201d<\/p>\n The abandoned garden and play area.<\/p>\n Pubs also provide jobs. If a factory closes with the loss of hundreds of jobs, you hear about it. \u201cPubs employ hundreds of thousands of people; maybe only 10 or 12 per pub, but there are 45,000 pubs in the UK.\u201d Often \u2013 especially in rural areas, villages and small towns \u2013 it\u2019s the only work opportunity there is for young people. \u201cThat first step on the career ladder, and the customer interaction dealing with all sorts of folk, you learn a lot. It\u2019s important and we need to take care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just about business, though, Tighe says. Covid comes up again: \u201cThere are fewer and fewer places where people make face-to-face interactions. Almost a whole generation becoming adults missed some of the ability to go and interact in their formative years. We know from our surveys people say their local pub has a positive impact on reducing social isolation and loneliness. In terms of wellbeing and connecting communities, pubs are so important.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in Cumbria at the Hare and Hounds, they employed about 25 in total, jobs that are now gone. The community stuff too, also missing in Bowland Bridge. I speak to Molly and John Wood, who live across the road from the pub (18 paces across the road from door-to-door, John reckons, 18 paces he admits he made quite often). They\u2019ve been there for 45 years. It was the village post office and shop \u2013 they ran it until retiring about 10 years ago. They even had a cafe at one point. \u201cWe started serving coffees because Peter said he was too busy and he didn\u2019t want to do coffees,\u201d says Molly. That\u2019s Peter Thompson, the famous footballer, who owned the pub in the 90s.<\/p>\n \u2018If we put a bid in and it\u2019s successful, we\u2019ll find a way of making it work\u2019 \u2026 Simon Rayner (right) and former regulars Martin Scovell (left) and Stuart McGill.<\/p>\n Molly loved having the pub there. It meant there was life in the village even after the post office\/shop was gone. \u201cThere was always someone about, it was a hive of activity, especially on a Saturday. It was nice to meet people. Now it\u2019s just dead, there\u2019s nobody about, it\u2019s awful.\u201d<\/p>\n John was part of the Wednesday-night gang. \u201cWe didn\u2019t go for hours and hours, it wasn\u2019t a big session or anything like that \u2013 just a casual get together, four or five fellas.\u201d He went with Molly, too. \u201cIf we\u2019d been working in the garden, we\u2019d pop over for a drink \u2013 any excuse. It just seems a shame. It used to support three families, did that pub, maybe more with chefs and kitchen workers, bar staff, cleaners.\u201d<\/p>\n The pub sign has been replaced with a \u2018for sale\u2019 sign. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n