It's a kinda magic

The Water Witch in Lancaster has customers spellbound after its owners decided to cast out well-known beer brands for quality real ales. Tim Hampson reports Matt Jackson may only be 32 years old, but he has been in the pub trade for more than 10 years. And he hates it. He hates the big operators who he believes have ruined the pub trade and blame everyone but themselves. He hates going into a pub and being served by someone who is clearly untrained and he hates being called a licensee. Yet, he runs good pubs, and if awards are anything to go by he knows how to run fabulously good pubs, as within two years of taking on the down-at-heel Water Witch, a canal-side pub in Lancaster, he has turned a dive into Greene King's Abbott Ale's perfect UK pub of the year. And the honours don't stop there ­ the Water Witch was the Morning Advertiser's UK Wine Marketing Pub of the Year 2003 and Camra's (Campaign for Real Ale) regional Pub of the year 2003/4 and 2004/5. Jackson says this success at the Water Witch, and his other pub in Lancaster, the newly-opened Sun Hotel & Bar, has come from offering quality drinks, quality food and quality service. His philosophy on positioning both his outlets is that he wants them to be different to the other pubs in the area, and so he has resisted stocking national brands, which might make potential customers define his outlets as young people's bars or circuit pubs. And it is a stance that seems to be working, as both outlets are busy, with customers of all ages and sexes. Jackson cut his teeth running a Student Union bar at Lancaster University, leaving the city in 1993 to run pubs as far afield as Blackpool, Shrewsbury, Gloucester and Bristol. But, when Young's bought the freehold of the Hort's City Tavern, the pub he was running in Bristol, he had to find a new challenge. Jackson, and his business partner, Phil Simpson, had become firm friends when at Lancaster University together doing degrees in history. Lancaster was a city that was tugging at their heart strings, as was a pub they both had fond memories of. Jackson explains: "We looked actively for sites, and the Water Witch was advertised, but offers invited' frightened us off. I mean how much for the Water Witch?" But, time had not been kind to the Water Witch, it was a tenanted pub in seemingly terminal decline. Even the leaseholder seemed to despair of it as it was eventually put up for sale as a freehouse. It was time for the pair to make their move. "We had no idea how bad one of our favourite pubs had become. The rent was £1,000 per week and the week before we took over the pub it only took £1,540," adds Jackson. "Yes it was a brave move to relocate, but we did have that belief that we could make it a great venue." Today, the Water Witch is a modern, thriving bar, with an extensive and good wine list, cocktails, vodka shots, a huge choice of Champagne and sparkling wines and a range of 50 whiskies. But, what immediately catches the eye is a range of eight hand pumps on the bar. Jackson regards real ale as the drink that makes both his pubs stand out from what he regards as a mediocre crowd. He describes the Water Witch as an outlet for people who won't normally go to pubs and he thinks hard about what makes people go into them. "You must have a reason for being. The customers simply do not walk in because you open the doors; you have to make them want to come out," he says. "As a trade, we are not just competing against opposition outlets for customers, but more importantly the supermarkets and off-licences, home barbecues, Sky TV and the comfort of the customer's couch. "Rather snobbishly I do not believe I have any competitors in the local marketplace." "I cater for the un-catered and market the un-marketed. Those that do come close to us compliment what we offer and provide more reason to actually come out of the home and are, therefore, welcome and refreshing by offering an alternative. "If all pubs were run well, then fantastic, as we would not worry about trade levels being diluted as we would be overwhelmed by non-pub regulars trying pubs again, because a reason has been given to give it a go. "Unfortunately, since I left Lancaster in November 1994, 16 new and previously unlicensed drinks warehouses' have opened with an average capacity of 516. They are all competing for the weekend reveller and therefore fundamentally offend the Sunday-Thursday/post work/evening customer. "It upsets me as I love this town and I hate what I see. In a purely selfish manner, long may they reign as they almost define our venues as being of an adult/mature style." And he believes that real ale helps him make one of his points of difference. He praised Thwaites, as the brewer helped install beer lines and gave technical support without the need for onerous loan ties when he took on the venue. "Real ale is my unique selling point and personal reason for being. I learnt a long time ago that real ale sets the standards for the rest of the pub. Even if you don't drink it, it suggests to the customers that the pub is one of distinction. "Real ale is the deciding factor, if only one person in the group drank real ale, they would feel left out in the modern bars. But, they are the ones who decide which bar to frequent." And Jackson is equally committed to the selling of good food, but part of his management style is to realise that he is not an expert in everything and he must leave some aspects of the pub to a trusted member of staff. "I am not a chef and don't pretend to be, so the people I employ in the kitchen must be responsible for the menus, standards, suppliers and treat it like it is their business. "I am, however, a consumer and luckily, being the boss, I do have some input into the menu. I remember thinking that the chef, Mark Cavanagh, wouldn't last a fortnight when he turned up, as he refused to do chips of any description. "I had bought my own chipper and peeler when I ran Hort's City Tavern in Bristol and was not best pleased at his aggressive stance. He was right though, we have never looked back. "It often amuses me that we are sometimes talked about as a pub by what we don't sell as opposed to what we do. "We often say here that the Water Witch is the pub that doesn't sell chips or burgers, Stella, smooth or Bud', and it works." So what is Matt Jackson? How should he describe himself; an orchestrator of other people's good times, a self-styled licensed trade personality ­ or just a damn good operator?