Running four pubs, owned by four different pub companies, is no mean feat - but Ben and Clare Stephens are doing just that, and smashing it!
Ben and Clare Stephens, took on Everards’ Soar Bridge Inn a year ago. A combination of their business acumen and having a talented team of staff means their pubs are thriving.
“We wouldn’t be able to do it without our team,” says Clare. “We’ve got a team who are reliable and the wealth of knowledge they’ve got is amazing.”
Ben and Clare, who had both grown up around the hospitality industry, took on their first pub – The Apple Tree in Quorn – in 2015. A couple of years later came The White Hart, also in Quorn, then the duo took over The Hunting Lodge, in Barrow upon Soar, in 2022. They became the business owners of fellow Barrow pub the Soar Bridge Inn in May 2024.
“We got approached by Everards on the off chance that we might be interested. We were on their radar because we’d been speaking to them about another pub, but we felt that was a bit too far away,” says Ben.
“When they contacted us about this pub, I said to Clare ‘let’s just go and have a look’. What interested us the most was the function room and how we could convert that. I think in any business you’ve got to find something a little bit different that you can play on.”
As part of a raft of improvements they made when they took over, the couple have created an attractive function room in what was the former skittles alley. They have also enhanced the pub’s traditional character, with new décor and the removal of old carpets to reveal beautiful original flooring underneath.
Ben says the function room has already proved very popular: “We get people coming in and asking for parties at all the pubs, but this is the only one that has a separate function room, so it’s nice to have this space to offer to people.”
The Soar Bridge is managed by one of Clare and Ben’s long-term employees, Laura, who Clare says was “waiting in the wings” for such an opportunity. Looking after their staff is key to the success of their business, according to Clare and Ben.
“We encourage them that there is progression. If you work hard and you’ve got the skills, you get rewarded,” says Clare, who focuses on HR and design, whilst Ben concentrates on ordering and paperwork and still often works behind the bar at the pubs.
“We’ve always said we can’t just disappear. We still need to be the face of the pubs, and I love it,” adds Ben.
Musing over their four-strong collection of pubs, Ben says: “On paper, this shouldn’t work, the fact we’ve got four pubs within a mile of each other, but they’re all very unique in the way they look and what they do.”
In addition to all four pubs having different identities, they are all owned by different pub companies. “We both agree that so far, Everards have been head and shoulders above the others,” says Ben. “It’s the support we receive, how reactive they are to problems and the interest they show.”
Talking about what they enjoy about running pubs, Clare says: “It’s very rewarding and we’ve made so many friends that we get to see all the time. We’ve got a brilliant team of staff as well.
“We were on holiday last week and I couldn’t completely switch off, but I said to Clare, ‘I love my job. I love the challenges every day and I wouldn’t want to do anything else,” adds Ben.
So, with four successful pubs up and running, would the couple take on any more?
“We’re always looking to expand,” says Ben, adding that they are currently searching for a fifth pub and have a staff member in mind to take on the management role.
“Nothing’s signed and sealed yet, but we’re all geared up – it’s just a matter of finding the right place.”
Michael Cosgrove would not be sitting here today - landlord of The Blue Bell Inn; happy, content, a staff of 20 and still planning new ventures for this pub he's turned around in a year-and-a-half - if it hadn’t been for a fast ball he misread at a cricket match a few years ago.
When the pub Jonathon worked at for the last 10 years and managed for the last two became available he jumped at the opportunity to take it on as his own independent business.
“Running a pub isn’t a job, it’s a complete lifestyle and it’s a lifestyle that we’ve chosen for our children too, so it needs to be somewhere they’re comfortable and where it feels right for them to be downstairs."