We met with Pat – retiring pub business owner at The Five Bells, Whitchurch Canonicorum, for a last chat and catch up about the last 27 years she has been partnered with Palmers.

The people have changed. When I first came here, it was all very much locals.

We were lucky because both Laurence and I came from farming areas. We had farming backgrounds and that resonated with the residents straight away.

“We liked Palmers the best of the lot…it was a very much friendly, laid back attitude”

When we lived near Bournemouth, our friends ran a pub called the Dudsbury and we ended up helping them out. Our friends had children of similar ages so everyone just got on and it just worked. We looked after the pub for a while after they separated, then it was sold.

When our youngest son, Martyn, was 18 Laurence asked me if I fancied going into our own pub. We had three interviews, the first one was with Eldridge Pope, the second with Gales and the third was Palmers, with Tim Woodrow. We liked Palmers the best of the lot, it just felt more homely, as if they were a family unit. It felt like you were being hugged by this nice large family. It wasn’t someone sitting there plying you with questions, it was a very much friendly, laid back attitude.

We decided to write Tim a letter asking him to contact us if any vacancies came up. Tim said at that moment they had nothing, but for us to keep in touch. We contacted him in June, to let him know we had sold our house and they’d need to contact us through our daughter in Australia instead – we were going to visit her. To our dismay, he wrote us a letter back and confirmed he had a lovely pub available – The Five Bells.

“I think one of the key things that kept people coming to the pub was all the food was my own home cooking…”

…and the fact I told people – use us or lose us. If you want to keep your pub, you need to come in. There used to be four pubs in the area and we were the last one standing, which was sad but speaks volumes. You have to use your local pubs for them to stay open!

We hadn’t given any specifics but from our backgrounds, Tim could tell what kind of pub would suit us, being from the country ourselves. We came over the hill towards The Five Bells and all we saw was the blue of the flax, the yellow of the rape and the green hills. He got us there at the perfect time!

Tim asked us to put a business plan together, we had to get it done pretty quickly as we were set to go to Australia for our daughter’s wedding shortly after. We knew we wanted the pub and didn’t want to miss this opportunity, so we made it work.

Then, before we knew it, were in! Tim told us not to unpack, to give it three months and see how we felt. But we never looked back.

“We’ve had our core regulars all this time, who have become my friends, not my customers.”

The house ownership and people moving into the village had changed. People are moving here and they’re staying. They want to be here. Because I have my locals and regulars, I am able to say who will come in and when. That means, if they don’t appear, I know something’s wrong! There’s such a sense of community here.

Every activity in the village seems to come through the pub in some shape or form. Fundraising, Halloween, Christmas, bonfire night, Christmas cake made on remembrance Sunday – all these activities bring the village together and I enjoy every minute of it.

Foot and mouth was a big one which hit us hard. People had to strip down and wear overalls to come into the pub from the farms! We used to get visitors walking around the village and popping into the pub. When foot and mouth hit, they went to exploring towns instead and we never got that trade back.

“A time Palmers went above and beyond and one of the most difficult times for us, was the fire.”

A heated blanket had caught fire, Laurence as he came upstairs saw smoke coming out of the bedroom. Luckily, I was asleep in a different room, he woke me shouting for me to call a fire brigade. We held it off for as long as we could, then couldn’t do anything else so went downstairs and waited for the fire brigade. Palmers were fantastic, they went to the pub whilst we were in the hospital, making sure everything was being sorted. They took over that side of things and it was what we needed.

The Five Bells and I have always been fairly self-contained. But Palmers were always in the background, mainly answering my calls when I said, ‘I want to’ providing it wasn’t too far-fetched, Palmers said yes and helped where they needed to.

One Christmas Eve, we had some workmen come to do some last minute works. They put a nail through the brand new pipes and we had water everywhere! The carpet was soaked, we were all grabbing towels, we had to try and find a plumber on Christmas Eve. We got it sorted and, to make light of the stressful situation, everyone came together and made fun of what had happened. They didn’t care my carpet was soaking wet, in they came. You need a sense of humour to run a pub like this!

“One of the highest points was coming out of Covid… it brought the community together again”

We opened up the marquee with the bar made out of wine boxes that we had purchased. Palmers got us a cooler to use out there, we weren’t allowed people in the pub yet and we weren’t prepared to serve at the bar outside and come back inside to get the drinks. I’ll never forget people’s faces when they came across the grass to the outside bar. It brought the community together again. When we were allowed to open the pub itself again properly, people didn’t want to leave the makeshift outside bar we’d made! They loved it. The screens were gone, the plastic glasses didn’t last long anyway, and the bar stools were back in their rightful place.

“It’s the end of an era”

Which it is for me, and for them. I won’t be coming downstairs every morning, checking the glasses and the bottles, lighting the fire, what I’m going to do with those few hours, I’m not quite sure yet!

Thankfully, I have managed to find a house in the village, so I can stay. I can still do all the things I do now, just without running the pub. I love this village and I love the people in it. When my husband passed away, the support I had from the local community was immeasurable and the fact I was able to add my daughter, Stacey, to the licence meant I could carry on with the pub. I have Tom (Hutchings) to thank for a lot of this! I have always felt as though I was the caretaker of the Five Bells on behalf of the villagers.

Not really, The Five Bells will always be my number one.

I like the more citrus ones; Dorset Gold is my favourite.

“Having someone else there to lean on was invaluable…”

Joanna (due to take over The Five Bells) has been with me since she was 12, she’s an exceedingly capable young lady.

Having someone else there to lean on was invaluable for us. We had a chap from Loders, it was great to be able to talk to someone else when you didn’t want to ring the brewery. There are no daft questions, but sometimes when you’re new, you feel like there are and you don’t want to ask the brewery in case.

I’ve already told Joanna, I will only be across the road and I will be happy to help. If she’s ill or anything, I will be over. She knows I’m around to help whenever she needs it.

Thank you so much to Pat, it’s clear how missed she will be at the pub. Good luck to her successor, Joanna House, who will be in the pub very shortly serving you up some delicious Palmers ales!

Follow The Five Bells on Facebook for updates!

Did you enjoy this article? Why not check out similar articles here.