AS a nation, our pubs have always been at the heart of the community and our latest choice of pub of the week sums that up perfectly. 

This time we put the spotlight on The Dog Inn at Belthorn and chat about their success over the years.

Name: The Dog Inn, Belthorn Address: Belthorn Road, Belthorn.

Bosses: Nic Machell (bar manager) / Mark Taylor (restaurateur).

Bar staff: Lucy Dean, Georgia Dean, Harry Thorpe, Tyler Chapell, Bekii Haworth, Paige Shaw, Judith Hamilton, Justine Moorhouse, Bethanie Rose.

Give us some history about the pub: The pub building is believed to have stood for 300 years. Back in November 2014, the pub closed and after the brewery company that owned it failed to find a new tenant, they put the pub up for sale. It was initially bought by a property developer, but in the meantime, the village of Belthorn had come together to try to save their pub. They approached the property developer, who agreed to sell the pub to them, if they could raise the required amount in about 8 weeks. A Community-Benefit Society was formed, shares were sold, and the sale of the pub back to the village was completed in September 2015. Following a spell of refurbishment, the pub re-opened in November 2015. The restaurant is run as a separate business, and since May 2019 has been operated by Mark Taylor, initially in partnership with Jamie Evans, but since earlier this year, by himself. As a Community-owned pub, it is run by a volunteer board of up to 12 members, and has around 120 shareholders.

What’s on the menu? The food is high-class pub food with vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. All dishes are created from scratch in the kitchen, with bread and dairy products purchased from local artisan suppliers. We aim to use locally-sourced ingredients wherever possible, including produce grown from gardens within the village.

Is there a beer garden? We have extensive outside seating at the front, and an area of decking at the rear of the restaurant Most popular drink? One of our cask ales Most memorable moment? Our official reopening, by fund-raiser and village “legend” the late Jim Fletcher, who was Belthorn born-and-bred. This was the moment when all the community’s hard work to save the pub from development finally paid off.

Do you have an entertainment line-up? We are just getting started back with live entertainment. Local artist Liam Davies played live in the pub a few weeks ago, and we will be re-starting our Open Mic sessions soon, as well as other live music sessions, and our ever-popular quiz night.

Have you faced any challenges within the industry? COVID-19 has been the biggest challenge that any of us have faced. Even when we were allowed to re-open, trying to run a hospitality business, solely outdoors, during the months of April and May was a huge challenge, especially in the unique weather environment at Belthorn!

The best thing about running a pub is... Because ours is a community-owned pub, the feeling of community within the pub is one of the best things about our pub. People feel welcome and we try to organise events that will appeal to the whole community: these include (some which haven’t restarted yet since COVID-19) monthly church services, youth drama club, craft and chat sessions, quiz nights, bingo nights, open mic sessions, live music nights, drama and spoken word performances.

The worst thing about running a pub is... Trying to juggle the sometimes competing interests of the community and running a successful, profitable business can be difficult at times.

The perfect hangover cure is ... An espresso from the coffee shop within the pub!