As part of our #PartneredPubs showcase looking at how publicans work with their pub companies to run successful businesses across the country, we spoke to Jackie Fairburn who runs a pub just outside Leeds.

Before she started running the Hare & Hounds Jackie had never run a pub, but as she approached her 50th birthday, she thought ‘if not now, when’… 

 Jackie, who runs the Hare & Hounds in Tingley just outside Leeds, said: “I had always wanted to run a pub, but never taken the leap. At the time, I didn’t have the funds to buy my own pub so I thought partnering would be my best bet. I had an initial phone call with the pub company and before I knew it, I was walking through the door of the Hare & Hounds ready to make a go of it.”  

Jackie knew she had some of the natural skills needed to run a pub, she liked talking to people and providing good customer service, and a career in logistics had given her a solid foundation in managing lots of moving parts, but nevertheless, she knew it would be a challenge.   

She said: “It was my first time running a pub, so of course there were going to be things I didn’t know. I have got a lot of comfort from knowing that there is always someone at the other end of the phone should I need advice on something, but at the same time they let me do my own thing and run my pub the way I want to run it.”  

“I really appreciate how my pub company give me advice on upcoming trends in products that I might not otherwise know about. I know my vodka and gin, but when it comes to beer they’ve been great at flagging what’s popular and up and coming and I wouldn’t know that otherwise.”  

Jackie says of the five years she has been running her pub, the past two during the pandemic have undoubtedly been the hardest but having a pub company to offer advice was invaluable. To keep the pub open during different periods of restrictions, Jackie created a new outdoor food and drinks menus, and added five new marquees seating 150 customers on tables of six and has turned a permanent outdoor bar – built during lockdown 1.0 – into a replica of The Hare & Hound’s cosy interior by filling it with furniture from inside the pub.  

“When it came to things like furlough and government restrictions it was useful to be able to call up my pub company and talk to someone who knew more than I did about those things. I don’t need their help all the time because I have a vision for my pub, but when I do I know I can rely on them.”