Popular local Restaurant and Pub, The Blacksmiths Arms, Preston-le-Skerne changed ownership on 1st February into the hands of Peter & Rachel Walton. Rachel’s brother Neil has joined the team as a director and Head Chef.
Peter and Rachel live at Middleton St George on the family farm where Peter works full time. Rachel has been running an events business for the previous 2 years as a half partner of TipiChic.
Rachel has now left TipiChic to concentrate on running the pub with Neil and has plans to use her Tipis in the large pub garden for events. Previously Rachel has worked as a book-keeper, a nurse and for a period produced free range eggs from 3500 chickens!
Neil is a chef with over 30 years of experience. After starting out and working for several years at The Rose and Crown, Romaldkirk, Neil and his parents purchased ‘Brambles’ coffee shop and restaurant on Grange Road in Darlington. After 5 years of building up the business they decided to sell up and Neil moved onto new challenges at Pierre Victoire and then The Blue Bicycle in York. Following marriage and children, Neil and his wife owned and ran a restaurant in Peterborough and a pub in Northborough.
Rachel and Neil teamed up early in 2015 to provide outside catering for several weddings and other events during 2015 with the intention of starting an outside catering business that would work alongside TipiChic.
However the plans changed in September when a chance meeting with Martin, husband of one of the former pub owners who told Peter that the pub was up for sale. A visit was speedily organised and the rest as they say is history!
Rachel told Newton News: “The first two weeks have been very hectic, we did have plans in place initially for a Chef to come in and help Neil from the start however this fell through at the last minute which left us with no time to plan menus, speak to the existing staff or re-organise anything beforehand.
As a consequence we have had to change the menu sooner than we planned. However in retrospect the changeover has gone very smoothly and the feedback from our customers so far has been fantastic.
A lot of credit has to go to the brilliant kitchen/waiting and bar staff who have been so helpful and supportive. They have all worked extremely hard which has helped us to quickly find our feet”.
They are continuing with the popular offers and events at the pub, Golden Years lunch, Tuesday and Wednesday 2 for £8.50, Tuesdays Steak night, 2 meals incl. wine for £25, Thursdays Curry night £7.50 incl. a drink and Friday Fish & Chips lunch deal £6.50.
The Classic Motorbike Society meets on Wednesday, Darts on Thursday and a Quiz on Friday evenings in the bar. A new main menu, an Early Bird special offer menu are available lunchtimes and evenings, 6-7pm Monday – Friday. Traditional Sunday lunch served from 12 – 2pm. Opening hours and telephone number remain the same as before 01325 314873.
Future plans for the pub include extending the usable outside space, a new beer garden is planned for the front of the pub, the garden at the back will hopefully be used occasionally to site the Tipis for events. The new owners will soon be applying for planning permission to turn the 3½ acre field into a touring caravan site with 20 pitches.
They would also like to create a vegetable plot and orchard to use their own ultra-fresh produce in the kitchen and maybe have some chickens. The directors wish to become more involved with the local community.
“Our top priority at the moment however is to concentrate on providing excellent customer service with top quality food and beer in a warm and friendly atmosphere” said Rachel.
New owners Peter, Chef Neil & Rachel
