Bay Horse in Green Hammerton – landlords celebrate one year

Bronte and Brett Jackson took the reins of The Bay Horse at Green Hammerton last August after it closed suddenly on July 28 “due to unforeseen circumstances.”

The previous publicans Jon and Tina Clarke left after nine years, leaving the Greene King owned pub shut for almost three weeks.

Now, after a successful and happy first year, Bronte and Brett who also have an events business, have signed up for five more years.

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The couple will also celebrate their first year on Sunday, with a birthday party from 2pm until late. It will feature pizza, live music, dj and face painting.

Bronte, 31, has lived all her life in Green Hammerton and says she and Brett love the village and the pub.

She told the Press: “It’s the only pub in the village. It’s a brilliant opportunity. There’s no immediate competition. It’s got loads of history. It’s a lovely building.”

Bronte says the couple took the 17th century venue on a Greene King scheme known as TWA, which allows you to trial it before committing yourself for the long term.

She continued: “We have a brilliant chef, who has put together a great menu. We have a permanent younger team of staff from the village. There haven’t been any reasons for us not to continue.

“We have a strong, young, willing team. We have enjoyed the past 12 months. We feel we have put our stamp on the pub. We just want to carry on, challenging as hospitality is.”

Business is ‘ticking over nicely’ a little quieter over the summer than expected, which Bronte feels may be caused by the fine weather encouraging locals to travel and go on holiday more, but business has since picked up in the cooler past week or two.

Either way, the Bay Horse has been scoring well on the review’s websites, with Google awarding 4.5 stars out of five, based on 546 Google reviews.

The latest Google review awarded five stars and said: “We booked two rooms for our stay with other family, both were clean and comfortable. We also ate in the pub, the food was excellent as were the staff (especially Morgan who was on her first shift). When we are in the area next, we hope to be able to stay and eat again.”

Looking ahead, Bronte expects a further boost from events at the pub including Octoberfest, Halloween and Christmas. Such events proved popular last year, with Christmas having a lovely ‘vibe’ in the pub. And Halloween promises to be ‘bigger and better’ this year.

The pub is about to replace it summer menu with autumn and winter menus, and it has just launched monthly themed menus for every second Thursday.

Bronte added: “We are really excited to have the challenge of the of the next five years and to continue to run this marvellous village pub.”