Profile: On to a winner

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WHILE ON a break, strolling through the ambling countryside that surrounds the Durham Ox in Crayke, North Yorkshire, one of licensee Micheal...

WHILE ON a break, strolling through the ambling countryside that surrounds the Durham Ox in Crayke, North Yorkshire, one of licensee Micheal Ibbotson's chefs spotted a field full of lush wild berries. They weren't there for long.

Taking a plastic bag-full back to the pub, the chef returned to the field with other members of the kitchen team and left it with nary a berry in sight. The fruit went into a 'Crayke wild berry pie', which was a big hit on the menu.

The story demonstrates an approach to local sourcing that, however labour-intensive, works - the Durham Ox is The Publican's Freehouse of the Year. Buying it from receivers in 1999, Michael has steadily upped profits to £473,000 last year.

Now he claims to be "taking local sourcing to the next level" by working with a nearby chicken producer to design the Durham Ox's own feed for animals which will be cooked on the pub's new rotisserie.

Like pubs in many parts of the country, the Durham Ox has capitalised on the bounty of North East produce and the fact that local sourcing is in vogue. For Michael, though, the motivation is far more simple than being able to put trendy terms on his menu.

"Never mind just this part of Yorkshire, when you live in most parts of the country, there is no excuse for having poor quality food," he says.

"We have been highlighting local provenance since we opened nine years ago. Now it's fashionable. Everyone is starting to shout about it, but we have always done it.

"Just because it's local and just because it's claiming that it's organic, say, doesn't make it good. We are ultimately looking for taste."

He sees his relationship with local suppliers - "the kinds of market stall-holders that my mum has been going round with a basket for years" - as mutually beneficial.

They provide him with quality produce, tailored to his requirements, at a decent price. He provides them with the promotion that somewhere with the profile of the Durham Ox can achieve.

"Do I have a role to play in promoting local producers? Bloody right I do. Most of these guys are farmers, not marketers," Michael explains.For example, a photo shoot was arranged where the local butcher parked his van in the foreground and had his picture taken making deliveries to the Durham Ox.

It's a give-and-take approach, in Michael's view. His willingness to help out in this way results in good will. He has more freedom to negotiate over cuts of meat and the relationships are such that he can get decent lines of credit. Some of them are unorthodox in how informal they are - Michael's lettuce supplier is paid in shiraz.

All in all, it's a down-to-earth approach that avoids gimmicks. "Local sourcing is not about marketing," Michael says. "The marketing is in the eating."

Expect to see fields in Crayke stripped of berries this summer.

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