Appeal of the Bell

Having won the accolade of British Inn of the Year, pub managers Paul Davidson and Pat LeJeune decided to go into business for themselves. Tessa Fox found out how they fared.

When Paul Davidson and Pat LeJeune, then managers at the Bird in Hand pub near Witney, Oxfordshire, scooped the British Inn of the Year award from Les Routiers in 1998, their customers urged them to leave.

"Why don't you do it for yourselves?" they chorused. Rising takings at the Bird in Hand proved their ability as publicans, and they were encouraged by the fact that the Les Routiers award is rarely given to managers rather than proprietors, so Davidson and LeJeune decided to go it alone.

"I was ready to leave the Bird in Hand," LeJeune confesses. "We'd had 11 years of six-day weeks. We'd lose chambermaids and I'd find myself cleaning [the pub had 16 letting rooms], and I was getting more and more tired." But over their years at the helm, they'd turned the Bird in Hand from a recession-battered pub into one with an average weekly turnover of £12,500. They were ready for a fresh challenge.

Their decision to leave the Bird in Hand coincided, fortunately, with that of an acquaintance to sell his business. Davidson and LeJeune had met years previously while working in Crete for Graham Simpson, founder of holiday company Simply Travel. Wanting to invest the proceeds of his sell-up in businesses run by people he knew and trusted, Simpson contacted the couple.

Between the three of them, they raised £200,000. Just over half of that secured a 15-year lease on the Bell, a run-down pub in the tiny village of Sapperton, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, while the rest enabled them to start renovating the property. The couple agreed with pub owner the Bathurst Estate, which owns the whole of Sapperton, that they would do most of the refurbishment in return for a new 25-year lease and a discounted rent for the first 10 years.

Almost two years on, the pub that, to use designer Robert Boswell's words, had been "clinging to flock wallpaper and prepacked ham" is a stylish, comfortable place with log fires in winter and sunny terraces for the summer, lavender- and rosemary-filled gardens, home-made food, fresh lisianthus on the tables and a striking silk-flower arrangement on the bar. There's even a tethering fence for horses.

The couple's first impressions of the Bell were unpromising, LeJeune recalls. "The rendering on the front wall was in an appalling state, there was a horrible function room at the back, and there were carpets, seats and light fittings all in different shades of red," she says. "And it smelt of chips. But on the way home we found ourselves talking about how we'd transform it, so, without actually saying anything, we'd decided." They moved in in November 1999 and ran the pub as it was until March 2000, before letting in the builders under the direction of Stow-on-the-Wold-based Boswell Design Consultancy for what was to be a year-long stay.

The couple's vision was clear. "We wanted somewhere relaxed, a village pub for everybody," LeJeune explains. "We wanted the horse rail because so many horses pass through; we wanted Champagne by the glass; and we didn't want bedrooms."

A particular hurdle was conservation, as Sapperton is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. "We weren't allowed to take the custard-yellow porch down because it had been there since the turn of the century, but at least we were allowed to paint it," says Davidson. "We had to keep the original pub sign, too, though we put it elsewhere. And we had to repair the crumbling render rather than remove it and repoint the wall."

Indoors, it was more a question of making the rooms lighter and more airy than doing structural work. Stonework and beams were uncovered, floors were flagged or had their boards repaired, light-reflecting buttermilk paint replaced the flock wallpaper, and shutters were installed instead of curtains. Signage throughout is in a stylish cream and charcoal, and there is an eclectic mix of tapestries, old family photographs and paintings reflecting local life.

Rather than demolish the function room, Boswell suggested removing the roof to create an enclosed outside eating area with cosy alcoves, a flagged floor and wooden tables and chairs. The Mediterranean feel to the area is inspired by Davidson and LeJeune's time in Crete - vines and clematis will cover the cream-coloured walls in time, and there are pots full of fragrant rosemary and lavender. On a practical note, outdoor heaters mean the area can be used in cooler weather, too.

When the project required a further injection of money, Simpson, Davidson and LeJeune created a company which now services a loan of £140,000, enabling the project to be completed in March 2001. "We're making good returns on our investment now," says Davidson, though he admits that first-year losses of £55,000 were more than they had expected.

The Bell has clearly enjoyed a new lease of life under its new owners. "When we first took over the business, it was turning over £100,000-£150,000 a year," says Davidson. "Now, we're now doing 10 times that, averaging £15,000-£16,000 a week. We keep saying that it's got to stop growing soon and plateau. My gut feeling is that we'll reach that point around October; but I've been wrong before, so we'll have to wait and see."

A taste of the Bell

Chef Alyson McKenzie inherited six microwaves, six deep-fat fryers and no oven when she came to the Bell. Now, with a fully equipped kitchen, she, second chef Dion Heaney and commis chef Peter Tudor are producing as many as 850 meals a week for appreciative diners.

Cheese from North Cerney, and lamb and pork from the nearby villages of Miserden and Daglingworth all feature.

The main menu (six starters and eight main courses) changes every four to five months and includes the likes of baked filo parcel of Cerney goats' cheese with honey and walnuts (£4.95) and carpaccio of beef fillet with chilli and ginger dressing and Chinese radish (£6.95).

Main courses could be a breast of free-range chicken with Parma ham and dolcelatte, baby vegetables and rösti potatoes (£11.95) or pea and mint risotto with tempura-battered courgettes (£9.95).

Fish and specials are listed on a daily-changing board. Fish from Looe-based fisherman Tim Alsop and New Wave Seafood in Cirencester feature on as many as five of the seven specials. Dishes such as pan-fried skate wing with capers and rosemary (£11.50), grilled sea bass fillet with buttered spinach and crushed new potatoes (£11), and roast wild sea trout with watercress and lemon dressing (£12.50) are typical.

The inn will happily turn to take-out orders, too. The limited service, welcome in a village with no amenities, offers fish, chips, peas and tartare sauce; a bowl of mussels; or even a three-course meal that people carry home on the plate. "We don't want it to become big but we probably do two or three portions a night," says LeJeune.

One in three diners has a pudding, all priced at £4.50, made by a couple, both qualified chefs, who come in regularly to help. Popular ones include chocolate and nut torte with crème fraîche; raspberry crème brûlée; and almond meringue roulade.

The Bell at Sapperton

Near Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 6LE
Tel: 01285 760298

Owners: Paul Davidson and Pat LeJeune
Manager: Simon Forty
Head chef: Alyson McKenzie
Investment: £105,000 for 15-year leasehold on property, plus £95,000 for initial work; loan of £140,000 for further restoration and refurbishment
Turnover: about £832,000
Gross profit: 65% on food, 62% on liquor
Covers: average 800 per week
Average dinner spend per head, including liquor: £20.50
Wet-dry sales ratio: 35:65