An upmarket offering

An enthusiastic taxi driver is often a pub's biggest hidden asset, so the cabby who takes me from Northampton to the World's End pub, five miles out in the village of Ecton, should probably be on commission. "I've known that pub for 15 years," he says, "and it's great now. There's no comparison with the way it used to be."

He has not only eaten at the pub several times but recommended it to friends. "You also feel comfortable just having a drink," he says. All of which seems to indicate that Mercury Inns, which took over the World's End on a lease with Enterprise Inns last year, and reopened the pub at the end of March after an extensive refurbishment, has pitched its offer right.

Mercury's operations director, Andrew Chapman, confirms this. "We've been turning over around £30,000 a week since we opened, and we see plenty of scope to improve that."

The mix of customers is also right, with the destination food offer balanced by locals from the fairly well-to-do village enjoying an after-work or weekend drink.

The World's End has an interesting history. The building was once a military hospital and the last stop for many wounded soldiers, hence its name. According to TV psychic Derek Acorah it is one of the UK's top 50 haunted locations.

As a pub, it has had a somewhat chequered career under various owners, and was part of the Unique Pub Company estate acquired by Enterprise Inns in 2004. With the World's End, Enterprise inherited a half-complete 20-room hotel development, which made letting the pub a challenge, to say the least.

For Midlands-based Mercury Inns, it was a challenge that came at just the right time. Having opened the highly acclaimed Old Green Man near Milton Keynes last year, the company was looking for a second site to convert to the same fresh food-led, stylish, upmarket format.

Like the operator's Old Green Man, owned by Greene King, the World's End is a leasehold, marking a departure from Mercury's previous freehold-only approach. "Once we showed what we could do at the Old Green Man, there were plenty of pub groups who wanted to work with us," says Andrew. "For us, the key is to make sure the site is right, however attractive the deal."

Enterprise finished the hotel development before handing over to Mercury, meaning that the landlord's investment in the site has been considerably in excess of the £300,000 Mercury has spent. The much-admired design and colour scheme of the Old Green Man has been developed for the new site, and extended into the hotel and conference area as well as the bar and restaurant.

"The rooms were a big attraction for us," says Andrew. "It's another revenue stream as well as a captive audience for food." With a focus on freshly made, locally sourced produce, the menu attracts a mix of business trade, ladies who lunch and couples, with more special occasion trade at the weekend. Big sellers include grazing boards featuring meats, fish and cheese, and home made pizzas. Sunday lunch is also proving popular and, with local suppliers used wherever possible, main courses feature produce such as chicken, steak, duck, pasta and salmon.

However, the larger overall area of the new venture has created more scope for customers to enjoy a drink only. A chill-out lounge area as well as the main bar complement the 80-cover restaurant, and wet sales are far closer to the level of food sales than at the food-led Old Green Man.

Anni Katz, formerly manager at the Old Green Man, has moved to the World's End. She says: "We have a lot of regulars who just come in and stand at the bar for a drink - although they do occasionally have a grazing platter - and the customer mix is certainly different."

Mercury Inns plans to keep Anni based at the World's End, with a brief to train staff as well as assist in opening new outlets. Having proved that the formula can be adapted successfully, Mercury now plans to covert one of its freehold pubs to the format - the Samuel Pepys at Slipton near Kettering - and is in talks with several national operators.

"We could have up to 10 pubs trading in the format by the end of next year," says Andrew.

This combination of a cautious business approach and a focused, upmarket customer offer suggests that Mercury has found the winning formula.