Easter was fast approaching, another significant event in the calendar that held no fond memories for him.
Steve Berry had grown up with a dislike for all
family orientated occasion, New Years, Easter, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night and
especially Christmas with all its nauseating jollity and faux fun.
Unlike most of the people he knew he had no happy
memories to anesthetise him against those occasions.
His parents were alcoholics and from a very early
age he had learned to fend for himself and most of his childhood memories of
the big holidays he would rather have forgotten.
That was until Holly Davis opened his eyes to new
possibilities and he realised that Christmas and other holidays could also
magnify joy and that life was full of wonderful possibilities, and as they lay
in each other’s arms in the early hours of New Year’s Day, having just made
love for the first time, Holly proposed that they run the Pig and Whistle
together.
Despite his first doubtful thoughts, when he
thought it may just have been post coital exuberance on her part, Steve agreed,
based on the way the two of them had worked together through the Christmas
period.
When he returned to his day job on January 5th
his first action was to hand in his notice, much to the annoyance of his employers
and the consternation of his co-workers, and his second action was to put his
flat on the market.
Some of his friends suggested that he was burning
his bridges whereas Steve believed he was merely following his heart.
Holly was buying the pub from her Uncle Phil, who
sadly would not be around much longer, but even allowing for the discounted
price he was asking, she could only just afford it with the sale of her house
and virtually all of her savings, which didn’t allow her any extra for the
improvements she wanted to make.
She could of course take out a mortgage for what
she needed but she didn’t really want to begin with a debt.
Holly had no idea Steve had put his flat up for
sale, in fact Holly didn’t even know if he owned his own flat, it wasn’t until
the beginning of February when he said
“I have officially burned my bridges”
“What do you mean Hon?” She said
“I am now unemployed and homeless”
He said and handed her the written offer on his
flat
“What are you saying?” Holly asked
“Our nest Egg” he said
“Are you sure?”
“All or nothing” he said
So, Steve and Holly became partners in the Pig and
Whistle, and they sealed the deal in what had become their customary manner.
The Pig and Whistle had once been the Railway
Hotel, up until the second world war when the Station was bombed out of
existence.
In the post war years when the new station was
built, it was inexplicably sited a mile away from its Hotel.
The Hotel was then sold off after nationalization
and renamed.
It was ideally situated close enough to town to
benefit from foot traffic but far enough away from the hot spots to avoid the
weekend binge drinkers.
There was another hidden benefit of their location
which would not be discovered until much later.
There were significant improvements made to the
exterior of the building by Phil’s predecessor, upvc soffits, guttering and
double glazing were installed as well as a number of others in fact it was
improved to such an extent that they ran out of money, which was how Phil got
it so cheap.
He and his wife Pat had big plans for the place but
when she died suddenly the light went from his world as did his purpose for
existing and he rather lost interested in the pub.
“So where do we start?” Holly said
“The roof” he replied
There was some remedial work required to the
chimneys and some slates had been displaced in the winter storms.
“We can claim for the storm damage on Phil’s
insurance and while they are up there, they can do the chimneys” he said
“Excellent” she said “That will save us a bit”
“And then we should complete the kitchen extension
and the Conservatory” Steve said
Phil and Pat had applied for planning permission
before she died but it would run out in April, so the clock was running in that
regard but Abbeyvale conservatories were keen to finish the job they had
started more than a year earlier.
In fact, they were so keen Steve was able to
negotiate a reduction on the installation cost.
So that was all set-in motion and then they turned
their attention to the interior.
Holly had worked in hospitality since she was at
college and of all the things she had learned, the one that stood out for her
was not to put all your eggs in one basket, you had to diversify but equally
don’t try to be all things to all men.
It was an old pub with a big open bar, Holly wanted
to reinstate the old layout and return it to three separate bars.
The lounge bar for the conversational drinkers, a
TV bar for the sports fans and a games room for darts, pool etc. and then the
conservatory would be for the diners.
“I bow to your superior knowledge of hospitality
Holl” he said “I’m just a bean counter, and as such I can say that it would be
a relatively small outlay to replace the internal walls and it will be less
expensive in the long run to heat three small spaces than one large”
“So, is that a yes then?” Holly teased
It was essential they started getting customers
through the door so they couldn’t afford to have the pub closed for any length
of time.
A pub the size of the Pig and Whistle would
haemorrhage money at an alarming rate with the doors closed.
They wouldn’t be able to pay the staff and so they
would have to find other work and then you’ve lost your experienced workforce.
Holly decided they wouldn’t close for any longer
than was necessary for the refurbishment.
So, they closed for two days for the builders to
put in the stud walls between the bars and closed the lounge bar for one week
to decorate.
Then a week later they closed the TV bar for a week
and repeated the process for the games room.
So, by the middle of March all three bars had been
decorated and re-carpeted plus the Conservatory was complete and ready for
use.
The repairs and renovations, plus some new fixtures
and fittings cost them just under half of their nest egg, which they were
exceedingly pleased with, but they knew that if they didn’t get a steady trade
through the door the remainder would be eaten up just in running costs.
They could put on novelty nights like Pub quizzes,
or a clairvoyant doing readings, open mic comedy nights, poetry slams and the
like but they planned to steer clear of live music or DJ’s, Holly thought they
were more trouble than they were worth in the long run.
Also, they had to make the most of the annual
special occasions, all those dates in the calendar that Steve had a phobia
about in fact, but they had just missed out on St Patrick’s Day.
However, gimmicks only got you so far, the bread
and butter patrons needed a reason to come back for the rest of the time.
The food would certainly help with that, especially
with the conservatory.
It was midway through March when Holly and Steve
sat down to catch their collective breaths, one evening on the patio in the pub
garden.
“You know what’s next?” Holly said
“Another drink” Steve said hopefully
“The Garden” she said bleakly
It would have been more appropriately called the
jungle.
It had been largely neglected not only by Phil but
by his predecessors as well because the extent of the growth had occurred over
more than a generation.
As luck would have it there were three regulars who
drank at the pub, the Beaumont brothers, who were proper old country boys and
the jungle was right up their street.
When they approached the Beaumont’s, they gladly
picked up the gauntlet and they and various other members of the family pitched
up the next day and got straight down to it and by the end of the second day
they had made great progress and as they sat down to an end of day pint Steve
asked
“How’s it going?”
He hadn’t anticipated it would take that long with
such a large crew and his bean counters brain was doing cartwheels
“Another day clearing” Kenny Beaumont said “But you
can at least get down to the River now”
“River?” he said, “What river?”
“The Trott” Old George replied
Just at that moment Holly stepped out from the
Conservatory
“Did you know the garden backed onto a River?”
Steve asked
“No” she replied with surprise
“Well it’s there Missy” Old George said and
chuckled
“Well we’d better go and have a look then” She said
to Steve and took his hand, pulling him to his feet.
It was a much longer walk than they anticipated,
the pub garden which they thought was huge to begin with was almost three times
bigger than it appeared to be before the Beaumont’s got to work.
In fact, it was bigger than either of them had
anticipated and the great bonus was that the garden led down to a section of
the river Trott, only accessible from the pub garden.
Holly and Steve didn’t even realise they were that
close to the river
“Wow” Holly said as they stood on the bank
“Ka-ching” Steve responded
“Spoken like a true bean counter” Holly said and
laughed
It was Easter Sunday and the first major occasion
since the refurb was completed.
When the Beaumont’s had finished clearing the pub
garden there were quite a few large areas of bare earth which needed to be
turfed in order for them to make the best use of the garden and the newfound
view of the river.
And a month later it had taken sufficiently to take
a light cut and the overall effect wasn’t bad at all, viewed from the patio.
The improvements to the beer garden would bring
great rewards with summer just around the corner.
It wasn’t quite an uninterrupted view of the river,
as they thought it expedient to have a small wicket fence put up to separate
the garden from the running water and thus prevent small children venturing to
close and being washed away.
Holly had arranged an Easter Egg hunt straight
after church, they had invited the children from the local area via Sunday
Schools, cubs, brownies and primary schools, the idea being the children would
come along for the egg hunt and their parents would spend over the bar and buy
from the BBQ.
Holly and the other girls had been out that morning
and hidden the cream eggs and every child who took part would get a ticket for
the Easter Egg raffle.
It was an excellent turn out in the April sunshine
and there were so many children they had to go out in groups, the youngest went
first.
“Ok Children, only six eggs each” Holly said
dressed in a pink puffy dress and a flowered Easter bonnet. “One…Two…Three…Go”
And off they went in all directions like marbles in
a game.
Steve was down by the fence making sure none of
them reached the water’s edge and he watched the beautiful girl in the Easter
dress amidst the mayhem laughing as the children raced around her, and he knew
at that moment without any shadow of doubt that he was in love with her.
When all the children had their eggs everyone
repaired inside for the big draw, this was tactically delayed to allow the
adult’s time to recharge their glasses and it was in the bar after the last
prize was won and presented that Steve stepped forward and called.
“Could I just have your attention for a moment?”
The assembled crowd hushed and turned their gaze on
him, and he continued
“I would just like to take this opportunity to
thank our lovely hostess Holly for putting on such a fun activity today”
A round of applause rippled around in response.
“And I would like to present her with this special
gift”
And Steve handed her with great aplomb, a handmade
Easter egg which she quickly unwrapped
“It’s lovely” she said, “Thank you” and then she
kissed him.
“Read the instructions” he instructed
On the egg was a handwritten card which read
“Must be opened upon receipt”
So, Holly placed the egg on the table and
obediently untied the ribbon holding the two halves of the egg together, and as
they separated it revealed inside, where the handmade chocolates should have
been, a small square box.
She handed the egg to Steve and opened the box to
reveal that it contained a small Ceylon sapphire ring that he had bought in a
local antique shop.
“Does this mean what I think it means?” she asked
quietly
“I don’t know, do you think it means I want to
marry you?” Steve said
“Yes” she said
“Good because that’s exactly what it means” he
replied
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” she screamed and the whole place
was in uproar.
