The Olympic flag is flying as Justine gets stuck into the pub she fell for
JUSTINE Cash was on the way to view the cottage she was going to rent in Draycott when she spotted the pub she wanted to run. It was the Olympic, a big, imposing roadside pub in the popular and thriving village near Long Eaton.
Justine was moving to the area from Halifax, to be nearer her sister in Sawley and her parents in Little Eaton and, after selling her cleaning business, she had her heart set on being a publican and had studied for and taken out her personal licence.
All that was needed now was for the right pub to pop up and, sure enough, it was not long before the Olympic became available and Justine’s application was successful.
She took it over in July last year but, of course, those were difficult times and she had to muddle along until a promised extensive refurbishment could be carried out by Star, the Heineken-owned pub group.
Now that is done and Justine can really get her plans moving forward.
She is one of those people who is an absolute natural as a licensee and she has plans aplenty, which should go down well in Draycott, a village that is very big on community.
The Olympic was hardly looking its best the day Justine spotted it, as her dad drove her past. I recall popping in and not stopping long a few years ago.
“It was run-down, it was unloved but I could see past all that,” says Justine.
“It’s such a big space and there’s so much you can do with it.”
When the refurbishment got started, it was done in four breathless weeks and it’s a lovely job.
You would especially say “wow” if you remembered the pub as it was before. It was always big but the space has been better utilised now.
The Olympic benefits from having a very separate bar and lounge, both serviced from a centrally placed bar, and it has loads of room outside, now with a big covered area and an extensive children’s play area.
“I had a vision for it and it’s all happened,” says Justine.
“They have done such a lovely job. It’s totally different looking at plans and then seeing it all come to life.
“The pub is big enough to accommodate all age groups. The bar has pool and darts, with sport on the TV and if the younger ones make a bit of noise, you can’t really hear them in the lounge.
“That side is comfortable and quieter and there’s more of an emphasis on food. We have pizza ovens now, too.
“Outside was a dead area but it isn’t now.
“You have got to offer something. People have got used to staying at home.”
Justine lives at the Olympic now, with her dog Olly – yes, he’s named after the pub.
And she has wasted no time getting to know the other publicans in the village, at the Victoria, the Coach & Horses and the Draycott Tap micropub.
Both Greg Maskalick, at the Tap, and Mark Gilliver, who runs the Coach, have spoken before about the need for everyone to work together for the good of the village and they will have an ally in Justine.
“We have to help each other out and get customers back in pubs,” she says.
“Competition is healthy but we’ll always do things like trying not to clash with entertainment.
“I love that there’s three pubs and Greg’s place. We all do something a bit different and there’s room for us all.
“I want the Olympic to be a hub of the community. We’ll be open for groups to come in for meetings and have coffee mornings from 8am if they want. I want people to be able to use the facilities.”
She sees this Christmas, especially, as being a great chance to prove that the pub is for the community, with a Breakfast With Santa event arranged with the local Rotary club and 35 people already booked in for Christmas dinner.
“I think this Christmas will be very positive,” says Justine.
“Last Christmas was more difficult and I think people will want to celebrate this one properly, which is why I’ll be opening on Christmas Day.
“It’s stuff like this that pubs should do.”
Apart from creating seven new jobs for people from the village, the Olympic is something of a family affair for Justine, too.
Her sister Charlotte helps with paperwork, one son, John, is a landscape architect who helped design the play area, another, Matthew, has designed the pub website and the other, Alex, is a useful handyman.
So is dad Lindsay, who tends to get called upon: “Dad, bring a screwdriver!” laughs Justine.
She takes a breath, now and then. “I love this pub, I live and breathe it and I love the customers. I’ve made some really good friends,” she says.
It isn’t surprising that she has.
They have done such a lovely job. It’s totally different looking at plans and then seeing it all come to life Justine Cash