The best laid plansÉ
When my wife and I purchased the Angel 11 years ago it was bankrupt and being managed by the receiver. There was little business and it employed only three staff.
Within a few months business began to return. It was mostly typical pub business - lots of beer, darts and dominoes, chips and sandwiches.
There is nothing wrong with this kind of trade, it has maintained the typical public house for centuries. The trouble is that it tends to be noisy.
Most customers arrived late and wanted to leave even later (beyond the close of licensing).
What's more, customers travelled in small numbers, only one or two to a car, and the Angel has one built-in problem - car parking. It has space for only 17 cars on its forecourt.
Very quickly cars spilled over onto the street, causing considerable disturbance to local residents.
Gradually over a number of years we changed our clientele, moving from the beer and sandwiches (with chips and ketchup) brigade to a market that enjoyed good food (and left on time without fuss).
But this did not entirely solve the car parking problem because, while our clients now came three or four to a car, as our reputation increased so did our business. As a result the number of cars on the road was maintained.
Across the road from the Angel is a magnificent 300-year-old Dales stone barn. It has space between it and the road for 25 cars. Internally it has space for 10 large en suite bedrooms!
Eighteen months ago the farmer and I came together and agreed a price, conditional upon me being able to obtain planning permission.
At one stroke I would be able to create an extension for the Angel's business and finance the extra car parking facility. I went to the village with my plan, thinking they would love it.
Alas, I had not taken into account an attribute which seems to be peculiarly British - our tendency to enjoy the knocking of success. A few in the village have watched the Angels' success with dismay.
While once we employed three we now employ 24. People drive for up to an hour to eat with us. We are a tourist attraction in our own right.
But what is planned as an over-the-road annex, creating a restaurant with rooms, has been developed by others into what I call the "Hetton Hilton syndrome".
One of the ringleaders of the opposition openly admitted to me that it would be a different matter if he could purchase shares.
Two sets of plans submitted to the National Park planning authority have been turned down. We have just submitted our third with total parking increased to 50 cars.
The locals are still against it and have persuaded the highways department to propose putting double yellow lines in the village outside the Angel.
The Americans must have known what they were doing when they decided to get rid of the Brits 250 years ago! n
