Starting Up with Brian & Mandy Barker @ The White Hart

Everyone can remember where they were on key dates: the death of a famous person, moon landings, the birth of a child, taking back a pub you left and sold eight years previously...

And yes, that’s exactly what happened to me and my husband Brian, said pub being a beautiful 16th-century coaching inn, The White Hart in Minster Lovell.

Just outside Witney, ironically it was owned by my husband’s uncle Jim Cross in the 1940s and 50s, and we were very lucky to have run and owned it 12 years ago, but then we decided to sell up, found buyers and went skipping off into the sunset.

Let’s just say that we missed a ‘clause’ in the signing-off contract, making us liable for any rent and insurance owing, so found ourselves taking it back on June 9 and re-opening on Friday the 13th. We’ve been in just over three months now.

Most of my husband’s pension is now a 16th-century coaching inn and I have lost two dress sizes . . . so not all bad then.

I have rediscovered the joys of cleaning urinals and mopping floors, scouring the deep fat fryer (my personal favourite), falling in love again with my accountant, VAT returns, PAYE numbers and mindless rotas. Brian and I have rekindled our passion for trivial arguments and lack of sleep. Scared? You bet.

Living near the thriving market town of Witney we have seen five good pubs shut recently, but we’ve managed to secure the talents of a brilliant young chef Tom Curtis, who has created a fabulous menu and we are busy already So I will leave on a positive note because we’d forgotten how wonderful our customers were, sticking with us through bad tenant and good tenant, and we owe it to them to make it work, and we will.

TRY IT
The White Hart, Burford Road, Minster Lovell, Carterton. 
Call 01993 775255

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