Falcon's in full flight

After 20 years in the doldrums, the Gloucestershire pub's food trade is now soaring. MARK TAYLOR reveals how

When former college friends Robin Couling and Jeremy Lockley took over the Falcon, they inherited three freezers stuffed full with frozen lamb korma, chicken tikka and cheesecakes. The kitchen was so filthy that it took them 12 hours to clean the grease off the cooker.

"The place was completely unloved and hadn't had any money spent on it for about 20 years," says Couling, who bought the freehold of the Cotswolds' pub with fellow chef Lockley in October 2002. Since then, the Falcon has become one of the jewels in the crown of Cotswolds' gastro pubs.

Case of blood, sweat and tears

As well as appearing in the Good Food Guide and several pub guidebooks, the Falcon also recently won the regional winner award for the Harden's Restaurant Rémys 2005, an accolade that rounded off two successful, but tough, years.

"It really has been blood, sweat and tears and it's been a steep learning curve," confides Couling. "But we knew the location was solid when we took over so it wasn't really a gamble.

"We bought a food-led pub at a time when food-led pubs were king and we knew there were enough similar establishments in the area to know that ours would work."

Situated in the affluent Cotswolds village of Poulton, between Cirencester and Fairford, the Falcon has become a firm fixture in a corner of Gloucestershire that boasts more high quality gastro pubs than most major British cities.

"With places like the Trouble House at Tetbury, the Swan at Southrop and the Fox at Lower Oddington, there's definitely a lot of very good competition around here and that keeps you on your toes," says Couling, who previously worked as a chef at the Carved Angel in Dartmouth before working as a wine merchant for five years.

"You just can't expect to serve average food these days and think you'll get away with it." A quick scan of the menu reveals that the dishes emerging from the kitchen at the Falcon are far from average.

Modern European in style, the food is bold, simple and seasonal with plenty of local produce being used for best-selling dishes such as supreme of Cotswolds free-range chicken with wild mushroom risotto, confit of Cotswold lamb shoulder with sherried Puy lentils and chargrilled Shorthorn rib-eye steak with roasted garlic butter and home-made chips.

With Couling taking a more general role front-of-house, most of the cooking is now down to Lockley, who works to a healthy 70% GP, even on the set lunchtime menu (£10 for two courses).

Couling says: "In simple terms, we wanted to run a pub that did good food ­ we just had a desire to do it better than average places.

"Frustration with poor food and poor service was a big factor in it and the fact that we just knew we could do it better. We wanted to inject some London style into a traditional country pub."

Variety spices up the menu

The menu changes monthly, but Couling says that with so much competition in the area, keeping the menu fresh is vital.

"Just because a dish is popular isn't enough reason to keep it on all the time. You need to keep moving forward.

"I think we charge fair prices and we're aware what our competition is charging. Our most expensive main course is rarely more than £16 and starters are never more than £8.50.

"There's no need to charge more because as long you're being reasonably creative with the cuts of meat you're using, you can make healthy profit margins and not charge the earth for it."

Although food accounts for 65% of sales and the Falcon is approaching 350 covers per week, it has been a conscious decision to retain the bar for the villagers and not turn the whole pub into a dining area.

Informal dining is the key

Couling adds: "We always wanted this place to be informal and relaxed and I think at first a lot of people came in and saw the linen and wine glasses laid out and thought it was too restauranty and that was the last thing we wanted.

"We still do linen and wine glasses in the evenings, but we're actually trying to make it less formal at lunchtime by using paper napkins and that seems to be working.

"We've got regulars who've been coming here for 30 or 40 years and most of them have also been here to eat since we took over.

"They were wary at the start and it took a bit of time for us to be accepted, but I think we've gained their respect and most of them have had a quiet word with us and thanked us for saving the pub.

"Last summer, we even did a barbecue garden party for the villagers ­ it went down really well as a gesture, but it's important to give something back because we've been well supported by them."