Fortune favours the brave

01 January 2000
Fortune favours the brave

The Countess's Arms

Weston Heath, near Shifnal, Shropshire TF11 8RY

Tel: 01952 691123

Owners: Earl of Bradford and Colin Cornes

Turnover: £22,000 a week (during April)

Seats: 200

Menu (£12.75)

Pan-fried pigeon breasts on garlic mash with a red wine jus

Medley of steamed sea bass, red bream and salmon on a lemon and chive cream

A millefeuille of chocolate layered with passion fruit sorbet

Wines donated by Addisons of Newport

It takes a brave man to charge 20p a pint more than the competition and succeed. That was the view of Chris Lewis, partner at the Moat House restaurant in Acton Trussell, Staffordshire, and a guest at Caterer & Hotelkeeper's open day at the Countess's Arms, Shropshire.

Lewis was impressed by the "dynamic" bar pricing at the Countess's Arms. "It's a lot higher than the local pub market - a good 20p a pint. You've got to be brave to do that, and obviously it's paid off," he said.

He wondered if the Countess's Arms would be able to sustain the policy and still attract more drinkers.

This is the challenge facing the Earl of Bradford and director Neil Wornham, who hosted the open day held last month. Guests heard their original ideas for the Countess's Arms as well as how they were put into practice and how the business developed over its first six months.

Other guests were interested in marketing and training strategies. Gareth Johns of the Red Lion Inn, New Radnor, Powys, was interested in how much the Countess's Arms spends on marketing. "We had so much publicity in the early stages, we didn't really need to advertise," replied Bradford. The way the pub's recruitment adverts were worded also served as advertising for the venue, pointed out Wornham, and money that would have been spent on marketing could be used elsewhere. "Our primary concern was to make sure everybody who walked in during the first few months was satisfied. We found ourselves overstaffing for the early period," he said.

Others were keen to find out about the pub's recruitment and training policies. Said Bradford: "We wanted people who were going to be helpful and who wouldn't say ‘no'. When a customer makes a request, we want them either to say ‘yes' or ‘let me find out and I'll come back to you'."

After a three-course lunch and a tour of the premises, the guests delivered their verdicts - which were largely favourable.

"It's all pretty impressive," said Ryland Wakeham, chef-proprietor of the 75-seat White House Restaurant in Prestbury, Cheshire. "It is successful because it offers exciting, good food that's competitively priced, and it succeeds because it's tightly managed. It has fairly low margins and high turnover, but if you keep a close watch on it, it's fine."

He also thought training was a key factor. "It seems to be taking on people who aren't necessarily experienced in the industry and who are fairly young, so they're malleable and can adapt to the regime they have created. They are willing to be trained and developed so are more enthusiastic," he said.

Johns had reservations about the way the venue hovers between being a pub and a restaurant, which he thought could confuse those customers who weren't familiar with the set-up. "I saw a couple come in earlier. They couldn't find a focal point and walked out again."

Kevin Godbehere, chef and landlord at the New Norfolk bar and brasserie near Sheffield, thought the Countess's Arms was "like a Terence Conran restaurant that's become detached from the West End and ended up in the countryside". He feared that, like many trendy London restaurants, it could fall foul to the whims of fashion, especially if a rival venue were to open anywhere nearby. "I wonder what will happen in a year's time," he said.

But he added: "Having said that, I'd have it tomorrow. You've got to change the rules and that's what has been done here."

While guests enjoyed the experience, Bradford was less than impressed when of the original 54 bookings, only 24 showed up. Four people cancelled at the last minute and a party of nine from a local catering college simply didn't arrive, despite four calls to remind them.

"Our trade goes on about the public not honouring reservations. What right have we got to complain about the public when people go and behave like that? It's staggering. The college didn't even return our messages," he said. n

Next visit to the Countess's Arms: 24 June

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