There’s new life in the Old Dog again and, with it, a fresh set of new ideas
Makes a return visit to the Old Dog at Thorpe as enthusiastic new licensee makes a mark
THERE’S life in the Old Dog yet. Those are the inevitable opening words to a piece about how the pub at Thorpe, near Ashbourne, is up and running properly again, making a belated return to action after closing for the pandemic.
The new licensee is Gemm Pollock, setting out in her first venture in the licensed trade but already looking as if she has a wealth of experience in it.
Hers is a fresh, forthright approach which, hopefully, will continue to work as well as it has already been doing since she stepped in a few weeks ago.
First, a recap. It was 2015 when I last wrote about the Old Dog. The former Dog & Partridge pub had been in the hands of Greene King and had been closed for a couple of years.
Then Martin Ball and his family bought the pub and embarked on a meticulous two-year restoration, renaming it the Old Dog.
Back then, I was alerted to what was happening by Ashbourne man about town Barry Pearson.
Barry wrote: “A couple of years ago it closed and, as with so many country pubs, we sadly thought that was it and that we’d not see it again.
“Then we started to hear comments: ‘Something’s going on at the Dog.’ But what? We saw years of rendering being hacked off the outside. Then the more nosy among
us stuck our noses against the windows and saw that it was not only the outside that was being worked on.”
The pub reopened on December 20, 2014.
“It is stunningly simple, elegant, superbly planned and fitted. It is spacious and has two large log burners – one at each end – which are incredibly welcoming on winter days and evenings,” reported Barry.
I repeat this now because it is all still true. With the pandemic, though, the pub closed and, save for a brief spell, did not reopen. The Balls decided to offer the lease for sale.
Gemm Pollock had moved up from London to Fenny Bentley with her husband. She had been working as a full-time nanny for 18 years. They discovered the Old Dog during its brief post-pandemic open spell and got to know the owners. “We thought, oh, now this is a
great pub, we absolutely fell in love with it,” she says.
When the lease became available, Gemm applied, but was not immediately successful. The Balls were looking for someone with experience in the trade.
“We thought it would be ideal because we liked it as it was, so we could do what we wanted with it without the need for a complete refurbishment. But, originally, they were going with someone else,” says Gemm.
“Then in January they called us and we thought it was just for a catch-up.
“But they had had a re-think. They said ‘we liked you but felt you hadn’t the experience.’ But then they thought ‘well, that’s how we started.’”
The next few months were about paperwork, but now Gemm is in place and has gathered a team around her. She has some firm views on taking a new approach to staffing and running a pub. She wants her team to be happy in their work.
“I don’t like the word hospitality! If I hear someone say ‘this is what we do in hospitality’ once more, I’ll scream!” she says.
“I’ve felt when we’ve been going out to places we sometimes weren’t getting a great service. Staff teams we were meeting were often looking to get out of the industry.
“I know it’s a lifestyle, not a job, but people shouldn’t be treated the way they often are. We’re going to try to do it differently.
“We’ve raised pay to be more fair and, for example, we won’t open on a Bank Holiday Monday. If we have done 300 covers on the Sunday, that’s good enough and people need time off. It’s an incredible job to be able to create an atmosphere in which people can go out and relax and we do have a lot of fun here – sometimes we have to remember to be serious!”
That all bodes well. There is a determinedly local approach to both the food and drink offers, with all meat from a butcher in Tissington, for example. Gemm has a good chef, Matt Egan, formerly of the George at Alstonefield, on board.
She has a son with allergies and the menus reflect her knowledge of that – the food offered is predominantly gluten-free.
Gemm sees two markets and is succeeding at appealing to both. “We will still rely massively on tourism, of course, but I hope we will also get people coming out from Ashbourne and other places. We want to sit somewhere in between,” she says.
“We’ve found that the people who came in the beginning are coming back, which is good.”
She plans to develop the garden and the function room, which is big enough to hold wedding parties, and will offer coffee, cake and pastries during the day. Walking routes around the pub will be publicised.
The opening hours are longer than many country pubs: from 10am-10pm Wednesday to Saturday, and 10am-9pm on Sunday, while the Old Dog is closed on Monday and Tuesday.
Gemm is full of ideas, knows what she wants, and the atmosphere is of a happy ship. The Old Dog is spacious and welcoming, with a beautiful bar and, fingers crossed, it is going to be a real success again.
It’s an incredible job to create an atmosphere in which people can go out and relax.
Gemm Pollock