The Rattlebone Inn, Sherston SN16
The Rattlebone Inn Sherston
Cue Covid-19, cue summer of survival, cue desperate measures…..this is how my conversation started with Jason Read, owner of the loveable Rattlebone Inn in the small Wiltshire village of Sherston. How to get through the summer after the pubs had closed their doors with no beer, no lunches, no dinners or Sunday roasts to bring in much needed income.
May 2020 and feeling a bit desperate like a lot of pub owners, Jason turned to the idea of a pizza oven to solve his short term problem. Having looked around online, he came across us and contacted us straightaway- a company that could not only sell him an oven but one who could install as well and bonus, was not that far away!
The Rattlebone Inn Sherston, website here, is one of those great village pubs you always pass on the way somewhere else and you think, ‘ we must come back here sometime’ and never do. Situated in the unspoilt village of Sherston near Malmesbury, the Youngs pub is the social hub of the community, doing great food and beer with all the character you would expect of an old but well run establishment.
We chatted on the phone about the ins and out of pizza cooking, what size would be best and eventually made a date to survey the area where the oven would be installed so we could chat face to face and make some real decisions. We eventually settled on our F1030CC+ with steel table, castors for moving the oven around and an epoxy hood that weatherproofs the oven without render coats.
By June the order had been placed and at the beginning of July the oven arrived and was ready for installation. A few days later we arranged to come and put the oven together and by the end of the week it was all ready to fire up, albeit gently.
Jason has now erected a huge marquee over the area so take away customers can come and pick up their pizza while working under cover to keep the elements out. It has been a great success, the pizzas are excellent and Jason continues hone his art and tick over until the lockdown hopefully eases in 2021. We shot this quick video in April 2021 when popping in to see Jason and the team and see how they were managing- very well it seems!
The Rattlebone Inn Sherston – a slightly more secure future?
Jason typifies an owner who has had to invest in his business to survive the worst year of trading in modern history. We went from pub to pub in 2020 realising projects which helped pubs mitigate the worst effects of the lockdown and enabled them to keep trading while the country fell apart. As of February 2021, the lockdown continues to wreak havoc with businesses and we only hope that we have been in some small way instrumental in keeping things going despite closures and bankruptcies in other sectors.
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The Rattlebone Inn Sherston Cue Covid-19, cue summer of survival, cue desperate measures…..this is how my conversation started with Jason Read, owner of the loveable Rattlebone Inn in the small Wiltshire village of Sherston. How to get through the summer after the pubs had closed their doors with no beer, no lunches, no dinners or […]