Giving a south Warwickshire community its pub back
‘Enter as strangers, leave as friends’ is the motto of village pub The Plough in Stretton-on-Fosse.
Dating back to the 17th century, it’s been the beating heart of Stretton through generations until things went awry during Covid.
Now, though, The Plough under new ownership and has been given fresh vigour, with old customers returning and new ones arriving.
The Herald popped in over the festive period, to find the cosy pub packed even on a Monday evening. We’re greeted warmly by new owner Andy Rutley and manager Helena Parker, and settle down at a table to chat over drinks.
Local couple Steve and Mandy Aubrey had owned the pub for around ten years. Under their management the pub went from strength to strength, but when they leased it to Canadian couple Lisa and Graham Nice in 2020, the fortunes of The Plough began to flounder.
Andy, who bought the pub in mid-September and lives in Stretton, explains: “It was clearly failing. Graham had a fast-food background so was running it like that rather than a relaxed village pub and that was probably the biggest issue. He was a nice bloke, but sadly business really fell off.
“It didn’t help that they took it over just after the first lockdown. They stuck to the Covid rules very keenly, and that put people off too. Looking back, the rules were a bit crazy – you could sit down and drink without a mask, but you couldn’t stand up without a mask.
“They also started closing around 9pm – for villagers used to late nights and a lot of fun under the Aubreys that was hard to take.”
Andy is married to Emily and, funnily enough, their Stretton home is also a former pub – the Old Plough. The couple have three children, two boys and a girl, aged nine, 11 and 13, the oldest two go to Campden School, while the youngest is down the road at Ilmington Primary.
“The Old Plough was an ale house in the Civil War,” explains Andy. “All the footpaths in the village lead to my house. The ale came with ‘services’ – which effectively means prostitutes.
“In 1642, the night before the Battle of Edgehill, the Royalists they stayed here. They ate and drank and were entertained by the ladies. What a village does when that happens is make a compensation claim – which was £30, but of course it wasn’t paid because they lost.”
Along with a business partner, Andy owns an IT company. And he’d been thinking about buying the village pub for a long time.
“I regularly called Steve and asked him if he wanted to sell it to me,” explains Andy. “And then last year he suddenly said yes.”
The first thing Andy did when the pub became his in September was hire Helena as manager – despite only being here a few months, she’s quickly been adopted as a favourite by locals.
“I was at the Rose and Crown in Stratford before coming here,” explains Helena. “It’s quite different – not such a high volume of customers. Here everyone is really friendly; lots of people checking in with me to see if I’m settling in. There is a really good community here.
“Coming from a managed house to a freehold has been a big change as well. The Rose and Crown is a Green King pub and they have their set ways, here there’s a lot more freedom, for example with things like being free to choose the beers. At the moment we have London Pride, Shagweaver from North Cotswold Brewery and Pigs Ear from Uley.”
Before managing pubs, Helena could be found in a different sort of theatre – a surgical one, where she was a nurse.
She explains: “I’ve worked on and off in pubs for 15 years since leaving school. But I’m actually a theatre nurse but returned to pub management two years ago. I worked in Plymouth where we did open heart and lung surgery. Working through Covid was intense – long hours and lots of blisters, it was tough. I thought life is too short, I wanted to go back into pubs and be happy.”
Since opening, Andy and Helena have received much-needed practical help from villagers.
“The village has given us so much assistance without expecting anything back,” says Andy. “Matt Digweed sorted us a huge Christmas tree; Alex Garstone and his partner Katie have helped behind the bar; and Stuart Green got the spit going again.”
The rotating spit, one of just a few that is operation in the county, is indeed in action in the inglenook fireplace as the Herald visits – with chickens roasting over the crackling fire adding to the cosy wintry ambience.
Andy is keen that the pub continues to offer good quality food at affordable prices, and is also using local suppliers such as the Cotswold Veg Box Company in Ebrington and Moreton-in-Marsh-based Walker Butchers
He’s also got plans to revamp the space, including turning the lean-to patio into an orangery to let in more light.
Although the pub is doing well, Andy would like it to be busier, and has been working with local bed and breakfast hosts to try and boost numbers.
One night is always busy though – the night the Browns Backers turn up. Formed in Stretton, they are a group of American football fans who support the Cleveland Browns.
“The Browns are good fun and make it a great place to be,” says Andy. “Everyone is keen to have a thriving pub.
“People move here because it has a pub. And when Emily and I first moved here in 2005. We’d regularly walk to other nearby pubs – the Farriers in Todenham, Fox and Hounds in Great Wolford and The Churchill in Paxford – but they’ve all gone now.
“The Plough has got such a rich history, it would have been tragic to lose it.” He adds: “So many people have told me that it’s great that the heart of the village has come back, and that’s always good to hear.
Matt Digweed: “It’s good it’s turned round and people are supporting it. It’s the hub of the village, and people are slowly coming back.”
Ryan Heritage: “You can see a difference now – on a Friday night there are a lot more local people in here, and that hasn’t happened for a long time. Every week you see more and more people rediscovering the pub, a lot more faces coming in.”
