Becky's diary: Week five

In the final instalment, Becky and David Salisbury of the Old Queen's Head at Penn, Buckinghamshire, realise that painting the front door on the day of its re-opening may not have been the best idea.

Week five: Well, we're open!​Cigarettes: incalculable

On the Monday we were confident we would be ready. On the Tuesday we reckoned we might even be ahead of the game.

Then Wednesday dawned and, sure enough, it was all hands to the pumps sweeping, polishing, vacuuming and even drilling, painting and fiddling round with the electrics. Honestly, it's like bloody Changing Rooms! In hindsight it all came together quite smoothly, but perhaps waiting until the afternoon of the opening to paint the front door wasn't the smartest move.

But dammit, this is a sexy pub: flagstone floors, roaring fires and hand woven rugs - everything a country pub should be. The locals think so too and were out in force on the opening night eager to see what we had been up to.

Fortunately, we had chosen the night of an England match so it wasn't too rammed with freeloaders. What we got instead were the real locals - the sort of people we were glad to show round the pub, explaining the new look and communicating the change in style.

For a new team, our staff rose to the occasion brilliantly. We called them together just before the doors opened and told them a winning way and a smile will go a long way in this business - something the new front-of-house team took very much to heart all evening.

And then the doors opened and our first customer walked in. "Your front door's still wet," he commented archly. All my guff about smiling went completely out of the window as I resisted the urge to throttle the cheeky bugger.

Since the opening our faith in the potential of the Old Queen's Head has been more than vindicated. In just four days we have catered for just under 400 covers and despite a few little hiccups here and there, the customers have left happy.

The pub is not perfect by any means. We know that the first-floor kitchen will be a right royal pain for as long as we are there but that's the compromise we have had to accept because of the lack of quality leaseholds out there.

But we haven't even been open a week and already the staff are copping off with each other, which we think is a really good sign. If nothing else it keeps us entertained and proves that the Old Queen has got the atmosphere right.