Jolly Brewers in Shouldham Thorpe and The New Inn at Hockwold introduce £12,000 'give back' to customers
A pub group which owns two pubs in West Norfolk is thanking its customers for their support with a £12,000 'give back' scheme.
Resolution Pubs own the Jolly Brewers in Shouldham Thorpe and The New Inn, at Hockwold. Both pubs rose to challenges faced by Covid-19 and as a result The Jolly Brewers has been named as a Finalist in the Great British Pub Awards as ‘Pub Hero of the Year’.
Both businesses are thanking their customers for their support by running a £12,000 October ‘give back’ scheme where diners, both inside and takeaway, receive a scratch card with their order and can win over a thousand prizes.
Prizes range from £100 gift vouchers to free food, milkshakes and 25 per cent discount vouchers too. The scheme is running throughout October at both pubs.
Adam Noble, who is joint owner of Resolution Pubs, said: “The £12,000 give back was something we wanted to do for our customers as they have supported us throughout this unusual summer. Let’s not forget the stress and suffering they have all endured too and it’s our job as community pubs to try and spread some cheer and look after each other."
The Jolly Brewers have introduced innovative new features to the business this year, including a village shop which sells everything from everyday essentials to food and drinks from local businesses.
Adam said: “We originally set the shop up during lockdown to be able to support our community as well as the wonderful local producers and suppliers who were going through incredibly tough times.
"If a customer asks us for something we don’t stock, we will go out of our way to try and source it for them. The pub should always be at the heart of the community and it is our job to be there for them during tough times, as they have always been there for us over the years.
"We started the shop with around 30 products and now we stock over 300 different things from bread, milk, fruit and vegetables to craft items too. The shop is open daily and all safety and social distancing procedures are in place."
Both businesses have revolutionised their food offering by introducing an authentic Italian menu using local produce under the name Moninna’s which features dishes such as gnocchi arrabbiata, risotto al fungi, Caesar salad, antipasto as well as a range of pizzas.
Sue and Nigel Crawford are general managers at The New Inn. Sue said: “We wanted to be able to offer something different to other pubs and restaurants in the area, so we launched Moninna’s where we can offer authentic Italian food, made using wonderful local produce. We are also able to offer everything on the menu for eat in, takeaway and delivery so that our customers can still enjoy authentic Italian food in the comfort of their own home. We set up online ordering too in order to make it as easy as we can for our customers.”
Said Nigel: “The response we have had from our customers has been incredible and we are delighted with the support they have shown us over the summer and now into autumn. Our pizzas have been particularly popular for takeaways, one customer even won a £100 voucher as part of our ‘give back’ scheme, just by coming in to pick a takeaway pizza!”.
Both Pubs participated in the Eat Out To Help Out scheme but did not claim the money back from the Government.
Said Adam: “We felt that the government had done so much to support businesses like ours from the start, and that allowed us to set up the show and diversify the business to help cope with the pandemic. When Eat Out To Help Out was announced we didn’t want to take any more taxpayer’s money as we felt it could be put to further use in our communities. We sold over £30,000 of meals under the scheme but did not claim one single penny from the taxpayer."
