Hard work of landlords helps to create warm, welcoming and inclusive Pattingham pub

In order to be that community hub, it needs to provide a good, well-kept pint and a decent meal, have a warm welcome and a feeling of inclusion and feel like the centre of its community.

One pub which has achieved all of the above since its current landlords took over is the Crown Bar & Kitchen in Pattingham.

The pub has been a feature of the village on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border for years, but has been given an extra boost and new lease of life since being taken over in June 2024 by Stuart Rawlingson and Jodie Austin.

The couple have developed the pub into that community hub, as well as being a popular stopping point for people travelling through the area, after taking over a pub which Mr Rawlingson said he felt could do better.

He said: "I know that the pub was a proper spit-and-sawdust pub until 2018 when three guys bought it and completely refurbished it, but it didn't feel to me like the best place in the world.

"I moved to the area in 2020 and used it occasionally during the Covid lockdowns and my partner had been running the White Hart in Shifnal before it closed due to the pandemic, so she was working the odd shift here.

"The owners had asked her about managing the pub, to which she said no, but they then approached us one day to ask if we would like to take the pub on, which we said that we would under the condition that we had nothing to do with the owners apart from paying rent, which they said was fine and so we signed a deal."

Mr Rawlingson said his own pub experience had been limited to drinking in them in the past, having working in the recycling industry, but said that it had been a great experience for him.

He said: "It's been a massive learning curve, but I love it and my main forte is in the kitchen as while I'm not a trained chef, I'm a very good cook and I've slowly been developing the food here, which has got a great following, especially our Sunday lunches.

"When people walk in, they can expect a warm, welcoming and friendly atmosphere in a pub which is, I won't say oldy-worldy, but definitely had some great character to it and is toasty warm.

"There's always smiling people behind the bar and Jodie is very good at keeping ales because of her experience at the White Hart, where they had 10 to 12 ales at any one time, so we just work to make it warm and welcoming."

As a freehold, the Crown is able to provide whatever beer the landlords want, which has included HPA Wye Valley, Enville Ale and Enville Ale Ginger, Timothy Taylor, beers from Salopian and Hobson's breweries and a rolling range of beers.

Mr Rawlingson said he and his partner listened to the locals, as well as visitors, about what beers they wanted to see on hand pulls and on tap, with Madri, Staropramen and Guinness all favourites.

He said that while the pub was most wet-led, the food was becoming very popular, all home-cooked and made with fresh ingredients.

He said: "We are definitely wet-led and that's how we intend to stay, but we've got a beautiful restaurant upstairs which will seat 45 people and so we use it on Sunday's for Sunday lunches, then we do food Wednesday to Saturday.

"We'll serve meals like lasagne or a homemade cottage pie where, when it's gone, it's gone, and we do curries and pies and faggots, so we do good, homemade food and what I would call comfort food.

"The Crown, to me, is a hub of the community and a place that Jodie and I like to think is very much inclusive, rather than exclusive."