A Briercliffe pub set on supporting independent breweries and the wider community is our Pub of the Week.
The Craven Heifer, in Briercliffe Road, is being run by experienced pub owner, Michelle Naylor.
We caught up with her, a week after the pub was added to the Campaign for Real Ale's Good Beer Guide, to find out more about this popular village watering hole.
Introduce yourself
I am Michelle Naylor, and I have been at the pub for eight years. I was here 20 years ago as well, and I did 11 years then as well.
How is it going?
It has been hard work to build it up and get it to a peak, and then Covid came along and disrupted everything.
We are on that build back up now from Covid, and I am noticing changes in people's habits since the pandemic.
I think the fact that the local industry has disappeared, and people have to travel more for work, has impacted old habits.
Do you do food?
We do bar snacks at the weekend, but it is predominantly a wet-led pub.
We have a big focus on sports, with a pool team, ladies' darts, men's darts, football team, and it is very community-driven in that sense.
Do you do events?
We do a quiz on a Tuesday night and a quiz league on a Wednesday night and teams come from pub to pub to play each other.
We do charity events to support people throughout the year, and we do one to raise money for the local kids' football team and to have the grounds done.
In November, we have a blackout night, which is for remembrance and to raise money for Pendleside Hospice, and we turn all the lights off, and it is all candlelight.
It is such a good night, and we have all the sing-alongs, and it is amazing for kids who have never experienced a power cut.
They all have candles out, and they have never experienced anything like that.
What is on the draught line-up?
We try to support local breweries like the Reedley Hollows, your Three B’s and your Bank Top, and it is all the microbreweries that we support.
I won’t deal with big breweries like Timothy Taylors as they won’t do a deal with you, and I want to keep as many of the smaller brewers as possible in the area, and if you support them and they support you, that is how the money comes through the tills.
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Do you have a beer garden?
It is mostly inside. We have a marquee up, which we are taking down, and we are doing it as a new structure in wood, and on Friday nights, we have bingo in there.
What is the best thing about running a pub?
You can’t say running a pub is a job; it is a lifestyle, and you have to enjoy that lifestyle.
Everyone who comes through the door has a different character, and we are the gatekeepers, and we make sure the beers are right, but the customers create the atmosphere.
If you have the characters and the group of people, and they all interact, that is what makes a pub. We can do what we can, but it depends on the people and customers.
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