Rachel Cox took over the New Inn in January 2009, the first business of her own after managing pubs for 18 years. Rachel and her manager Toby Moseley have made some significant changes to the New Inn since they started. “The menu was pretty basic, it was reasonably popular with locals, but there was not much variety and there were no special boards, so we have implemented a new menu which has been hugely successful. We have also broadened the variety of wine available to compliment the food we now sell” Toby explains.
The interior of the New Inn has had some changes made too, including the addition of 3 TV screens which enables them to show key sporting events such as Wimbledon and the rugby. The New Inn has quickly become the ‘local’ pub for the Salisbury Rugby Club. Rachel also sponsors the Army’s Wilton HQ Land Command Rugby Team who host events at the pub.
The main change that Rachel and Toby have also tackled the garden. By investing around £3,000 they have transformed it from being overgrown, and unloved, to a beautiful refuge for Salisbury shoppers. They achieved this by adding evening lighting, building a patio, installing outside heating and making features out of two chimeneas, they also built a large brick barbeque which has been very successful with summer functions.
Toby designed the garden himself and he carried out the work with eight local customers of the pub. All of the hard work that has been put into the New Inn by Rachel, Toby and their team has resulted in an increase in sales of 40% in less than a year.
“The best part about being a tenant is being my own boss. It takes a lot of hard work to run your own business, there are unexpected bills that appear but as long as you have a large contingency fund you can get through it! The four most important aspects of running your own business are paying bills on time, never run out of beer, look after your customers and have a good relationship with your Area Manager” advises Rachel.
