Pub Awards: Best Freehouse Winner - The Bull, Ditchling, East Sussex

He took on the pub lease 13 years back and when offered the freehold three years ago he jumped at the chance. He has regularly put his money where his mouth is and has consistently upped his turnover and profits.

When he took on the freehold of the Bull, paying a seven-figure sum to Enterprise Inns, there was a step-change in the business. Prior to that he had been in negotiation with Enterprise for a £200,000 expansion project. But a change in ownership meant a change in approach. “We realised we had to go about future-proofing the business,” says Worrall. “Having lived the business, we felt a bigger scheme was warranted.”

Investment

And so an ambitious £600,000 investment project that is due to start this year came about. This will include a new restaurant, a new kitchen, two new bedrooms, a new snug, new toilets, new storage rooms, new offices, a new terrace and a new car park. “We feel passionately about this project but it has to work financially – and it will,” said Dominic, who is predicting a 25% first-year uplift in trade (from a turnover of £1.3m) rising to 60% by year five.

So, in order to achieve this, is the pub going to become a quasi-restaurant?

Well not according to general manager Molly Raferty. “We’ve always wanted it to feel like a proper pub, and that will continue,” she said. And the customer profile backs up that claim – current estimates put the number of diners at 800 to 900 a week, with drinkers matching those numbers.