Leaving the Admiral Rodney... Kevin and Lesley's story
- Colston Crawford
- Mar 27
- 3 min read
After 10 great years, the Taylors didn't want to leave their village pub, but they didn't really have an option. Here's what they had to say...
Kevin and Lesley Taylor departed the Admiral Rodney pub in Hartshorne last weekend after 10 successful years as licensees, during which time they ensured the pub was at the centre of the village community and raised many thousands of pounds for charity along the way.
Leaving wasn’t something they had planned – however, it is something they have come to terms with now, as you’ll see as this story unfolds.
It was only in June last year that I wrote about them reaching that 10-year milestone and then they were very much looking forward to the future at the pub. Unfortunately, as we have seen all too often, a planned future can look very different when the pub company owning a tied house comes up with the proposed figures for the renewal of the terms.
In short, Stonegate, the beleaguered, debt-heavy pubco in this case, was not prepared to be flexible and wanted to whack up the rent by a significant amount as well. More of my opinion on that in a separate blog soon but the Taylors prefer the focus to be on the good time they had at the pub and that’s fine.
They were overwhelmed by a leaving do at the Rodney last week and not least surprised and delighted by a speech from their son Jordan, encompassing all that they had achieved at the pub.
“The emotion I felt that night, I’ve never experienced it before,” says Lesley. “We had a brilliant send-off, it couldn’t have been better.”
Kevin says: “We’ve achieved more than we expected when we went into this. Everything we did was supported by the village. We’ve had 10 years at the Rodney, 13 in the industry, so it’s not a bad little spell. All good things come to an end and it’s the right time for us.”
While they had said they would have continued, the hard truth is that things are not getting any easier in the industry. The couple had discussed their emotions on their way to having a chat with me.
“Were we sad, were we glad? We decided the main emotion was relief,” says Lesley.
“It’s a relentless and very hard business to be in,” explains Kevin. “I think we had the best years. If I could buy a pub, I’d buy one. Freehold is the way forward, not being tied. But I’m 66, Lesley’s a few years younger and the lease offer took the decision out of our hands.”
Many who’ve used the Rodney regularly will know that Sarah Fern was by Kevin and Lesley’s side, helping them run the pub, for much of the time they were there: “like a surrogate daughter to us,” says Lesley.
It’s good news, too, then, that the situation has worked out for Sarah, who has a new job which is going to give her more quality family time than the pub sometimes allowed.
Travelling – they already own a camper van – and family (their first grandchild is six months old) will be the big two things in the Taylors’ life going forward.
But while they are not keen on how it ended with Stonegate, it comes as no surprise that they wish nothing but the best to the Admiral Rodney’s new incumbents, Andy Woods and Joanne Stamps.
“They’re a nice couple, they’ve gone in with a lot of enthusiasm and we wish them well,” says Kevin. “We live literally over the road from the pub and it’ll be our local but we’ll leave them to it while they settle in. That said, they know that they can ring us if they want to ask us anything at all.”
It’s exactly what you’d expect and exactly how it should be. * If you're enjoying these articles and haven't subscribed yet, it doesn't cost anything to do so and all that happens is you get an email when I post a new one. Click the blog home page, wait a minute or so for it to load and fill in the bit that says "Join Me". I also welcome comments on the blog.
Is this symptomatic of the industry? Business owners feel the need to maintain profitability at their end and, with falling trade generally, they may need to maximise their 'asset' - the properties? Have they reached the limit of their operational cost-saving and slap the new contracts on tenants. I can't help but feel that multi-pub owners/operators are using tax increases (which in some cases don't affect them!) as an excuse. But In was never in the hospitality business.