Shop opens during lockdown at the Castle Inn Pub in Castle Bytham
When Boris Johnson called time on pubs last month, one village inn’s landlords weren’t going to be left crying into their pints.
Instead, Will Stanton and Sue Farley, who run the Castle Inn at Castle Bytham, sprang into action to open a village store.
Will said: “We have an outhouse at the pub which had been an antique bookbinder workshop. On the Tuesday we got in a skip, and by the Saturday we opened a shop.”
Will, 55, and Sue, 51, offer local veg including potatoes and pickles from Castle Bytham, plus produce from the butcher and wine merchant they used while the pub was open. They are also selling essentials such as cleaning products.
The pub chef is cooking pies, lasagnes and similar homely meals for delivery around the village.
“We’re really enjoying the interaction with customers,” said Will, who has a family farm at Witham-on-the-Hill, run by his son, Matthew.
“There are quite a lot of retired and elderly residents in the village who are not all comfortable with going to shop at a large supermarket, so we feel that we are doing out bit to help.”
The pub shop is open daily, from 9.30am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 5pm, and on Sundays from 10am to noon.
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