In a new Channel 4 documentary Our Yorkshire Pub Rescue, Richardson, 43, who is known for his appearances on 8 Out of 10 Cats and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown becomes a shareholder in Fadmoor Community Pub Limited, and shows how he works with the community to breathe life back into their local boozer.
Along the way, the Waterloo Road star will get involved in the renovation and be on hand to tackle a variety of challenges.
Ahead of the release of Our Yorkshire Pub Rescue, Richardson discusses what his experience has been like.
HAS IT ALWAYS BEEN A DREAM TO OWN A PUB?
JON RICHARDSON: Yeah, it has been. I mentioned to my accountant once that my long-term goal was to own a pub, and I think it was the closest he’s come to punching me in the face. So this is like a dream. It’s a dream option where you don’t have to own the full pub, but you get to gob off about what you think they should have and what you think they should sell.
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED WITH THE PLOUGH?
JON RICHARDSON: We talked with a production company about doing something around pubs, and specifically community-owned pubs, and then they heard about The Plough. We went up and did a visit and met everyone, and it just seemed right immediately. The people there were amazing, and the building was great. It was a quick turnaround from finding the building to getting Channel 4 to back it, so we were quite lucky.
THE RELEASE OF THIS DOCUMENTARY COMES AS THE GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED ITS U-TURN AND A SUPPORT PACKAGE FOR PUBs. DOES it HIGHLIGHT HOW MUCH LOCAL PUBS ARE STRUGGLING?
JON RICHARDSON: Yeah, I think that’s been happening a long time. I think pubs have faced various challenges over the years. There’s always something on beer duties. At the moment, I think there’s a big problem around pubs, and a limit to what the publicans themselves are able to do in in the buildings that they run.
You can feel a clash between the problems that pubs are facing and their importance in the country. Lockdown was defined by the access you had to a pub. I feel like every different phase we were in was about whether you could eat in a pub, drink in a pub, sitting two people in a pub. Their importance can’t be overstated.
“We haven’t got into the business race thing on this series, because it just feels like pubs face one problem after another. What we’re trying to get into are the core values of a pub and what do you have to offer a local community that means you get to stay open for 50 years.
WHAT OBSTACLES DID YOU COME ACROSS?
JON RICHARDSON: There’s been so many. The first time I walked in, I could not believe there were no walls, no floor, no electrics, no toilets. I was flabbergasted. So even the starting point to me was this is more Grand Designs than a pub series. This is actually building something from scratch.
WHAT SORT OF LANDLORD WOULD YOU BE?
JON RICHARDSON: I’d be a terrible landlord because I’m quite grumpy. Ultimately, what I like, this is the real problem facing pubs: quiet pubs. I like pubs where I can sit in the corner, maybe stroke a dog now and again, go and get a pint, sit and not be bothered.
But for The Plough to succeed, it needs to be busy and full all the time, which I would be advising them against – let’s not have too many people in.
The great thing about this is that I don’t have to be. At some point, the shareholders will have to hand over the pub to somebody who’s going to run it, and that’ll be a really interesting phase, because at the moment, they’re doing everything themselves.
HOW DID YOU FIND THE MANUAL LABOUR? DO WE SEE YOU DOING A LOT OF IT DURING THE SERIES?
JON RICHARDSON: That is a recurring theme. If that’s what you’re into, people laughing at my efforts, then I’ll be pleased to tell you people were mocking my driving, my parking, the sandwiches that I bring at lunchtime. That is a recurring theme. But the manual labour I loved, because I’ve never done anything like it.
I’ve been doing comedy for 20 years, so there’s no tangible thing I’ve ever achieved.
So even just to grout a tile and to be able to say, ‘I can come for a wee in here in like 30 years and see that bit of grouting and know that I did it’, it’s a totally unique feeling to me.
So I’ll take the mockery. Just to say, we did a bit of plastering outside. I repointed part of the stone wall outside, and I never felt more like a toddler showing a picture of a dog to be pinned on the fridge. I’ve sent that picture of that repointing to every friend and family member I’ve got.
DO PUBS NEED TO EMBRACE THE COUNTRY’S CHANGING DRINKING HABITS?
JON RICHARDSON: I think we’re known as being a bit uptight in this country. And I think the pub is one of the few places where you’ll have a table full of nanas together, just giggling and howling and owning up to stuff.
And you’ll have men who wouldn’t talk in any other situation having conversations that they didn’t think they were going to talk about when they arrived. There are essentials for that, and that is not booze-reliant, which I’m realising now.
Our Yorkshire Pub Rescue, is on More 4 tonight (Wednesday) at 9pm. on Wednesday.
