‘People will want to throw their money around when we reopen’

Patrick Beaume and his wife Julie won the Telegraph Pub of the Year in 2020. He thinks 2021 is going to be great

We won Pub of the Year just as The Cartford Inn (in Little Eccleston, Lancs) reopened for summer. Our turnover was actually higher than usual, but it didn’t last long. We shut again in October and started operating as a takeaway, with a drive-through fish and chip shop on Friday nights. We’ve been selling chutney, chilli jam, pesto and things like that online. When we reopen, people will want to throw money around and enjoy themselves. We’ve got a new bar, the outside has been redone and everything’s in top nick. I’m optimistic that summer will be fine.

Pubs are the hub of society but the drinking pubs, unless they were very quirky or very traditional, were already disappearing before lockdown. Many have now had to adapt, like us, and start doing food to survive. So I think that’s going to strengthen that pub culture, with better food and well-kept places. It could be a new chapter for pubs.