Couple who’d never pulled pint celebrate bar birthday (From York Press)

Couple who’d never pulled pint celebrate bar birthday

8:08am Monday 5th November 2012 in Pints of View

A couple are preparing to celebrate their tenth anniversary of running a village pub – though they had never even pulled a pint before going into pub management.

Garry Carter and his wife, Pam, will celebrate a decade of running the Dawnay Arms in Shipton-by-Beningbrough on Friday.

The husband-and-wife team gave up their full time jobs in 2002 to give running the pub a go. Garry said: “I used to be a retail manager for Sports Direct.

“Pam was a mortgage adviser but running our own pub was something we always wanted to do. When the tenancy came up for the Dawnay Arms it was an easy decision for us – although we’d never pulled a pint before in our lives.”

Even in the current financial climate, with about 50 pubs closing each week in the UK, the Dawnay Arms has gone from strength to strength under the leadership of Garry and Pam. The couple have guided the pub through two major refurbishments, with the latest £40,000 investment completed this summer.