ALEX Wilbraham is up to March 2016 with her plans for the Holly Bush at Makeney.

That’s plans to make the most of events which will be coming up between now and then, plans to instigate events at the pub, plans generally for how to keep the pub one of the finest in Derbyshire (it is the current Amber Valley pub of the year and they’re waiting to see how they do in the county-wide contest).

When I hit upon the idea of looking at what successful pubs do to stay successful – that is, not stagnating – I thought of Alex and her husband Chris at the Holly Bush because of the brilliant job they have done in revitalising the historic pub since they took it on four years ago.

I bet everyone reading this can think of a pub they visit which started off superbly under new licensees but is, perhaps, treading water a bit now or even slipping backwards.

It’s a great shame when this happens and there are many factors. It is, of course, extremely wearing running a pub and if some people can’t keep up the pace, it’s understandable. Sometimes it’s because a large pub company has banged the rent up ridiculously at the first sign of any success and battered the motivation out of the licensees in the process.

It can happen because a pub is restricted, as a building, and the licensees feel they have done all they can with it.

The Holly Bush, a listed building with a unique interior full of character and a tiny car park is one that, as a building, you can’t change too much.

But there’s no sign of the Wilbrahams standing still. What do they do to keep it fresh?

“We love the pub,” says Alex. “You have to. If we stop loving the pub, we might as well come out of it. I don’t think either of us would have another pub. Only this one.

“You have to be a team, you and the staff. Chris is front of house here, he’s the one the customers see mostly. We have three children, so we can’t both do that. I’m the one behind the scenes, planning.

“We’re always looking at what to do, who to contact when we have an event coming up. After the event, we’re analysing. What did we get right, what did we get wrong? Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do, it could just be down to the weather.”

I’m amazed to learn that the Wilbrahams, who have made the Holly Bush a cleaner, brighter, pub with a bigger choice of both food and beer and an altogether better atmosphere, have not been made welcome by everyone who used the pub – although they clearly have by most.

I guess it’s human nature. And not something they should dwell on too much.

“We’ve worked hard with the local community,” says Chris.

“After all, we’re part of it. We live here, we have children. We want to be part of it.”

And they want their customers to be part of it.

“We’re available,” says Chris.

“We want the customers to buy into the process. We try to involve them, ask them what they think of the beers and ideas we have.”

One of the balancing acts with a pub like the Holly Bush is to keep it traditional while not ignoring the modern world.

“It’s a traditional, old-fashioned boozer and we want it to be,” says Alex.

“You have to work out what’s unique about your pub, learn what the drinkers want and keep it simple.

“But they want things like wifi as well – they just don’t want to see the wires. We do a lot to promote the pub on social media, although that’s very time-consuming. You can’t launch a Facebook page, for example, and then not update it. People notice.”

The next thing that amazes me is how many people the Wilbrahams employ. They’re not all full-time of course but there are 28 of them.

Again, the couple’s attention to detail shines through.

“It’s hard work getting the right staff and training them to a certain level of expectation,” says Alex.

“We take our staff out to the top pubs in the area, ask them to look around, then we come back and analyse what we’ve seen, the good bits and the not so good bits.

“We know people come here, look at our ideas and go away with them. But we go places too. It’s good to see what others are doing.”

The end result of all this is that there’s no sign of the Holly Bush resting on its laurels, which, at one stage, it did.

When I mooted the theme of this article to Chris, he was anxious that they did not come over as arrogant. Anyone who knows them will know that they don’t.

But they sure as hell know how to run a pub.

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