Griffin Inn near Grantham appears on Four in a Bed and Salvage Hunters
A Lincolnshire inn has appeared on two popular TV series in the last year.
Owner and manager of The Griffin Inn, Irnham, Sir Jamie Benton Jones, took over the pub in 2019 and with his wife Leila completely restored the inn, including fitting an award winning kitchen.
The couple were able to show off the completed restoration on the Channel 4 show, Four in the Bed, and were the winners out of the contestants in their group of episodes.
Jamie said: "My wife and I have developed a wedding business, and we decided since the pub was seriously flagging we though you know that, how complicated can it be lets do up the pub and run that too; and obviously that's incredibly complicated but I do love it, so I am down there three times a day directing operations.
"Last year we won this programme in Covid times, four in a bed, which we hadn't seen before.
"We were really fortunate that we had lockdown because we filmed it last March but since when can young people take two weeks off because it takes two weeks to film, otherwise you would be running around looking after children and running the businesses and doing weddings and god knows what, but because of Covid the pub was shut and we thought well never mind we'll do it."
The couple's episodes aired in November, and out of the four hotels that were stopped in for that bundle of episodes, Jamie and Leila were declared the winners.
Jamie said: "It was extremely tiring because of course you were putting everything you had into sounding positive on your feedback filming episodes and trying to make the most out of it.
"We're not actors so there was a lot of learning on the job and being directed by the film crew who were trying their best with a bunch of complete amateurs, who were just trying to get to grips with what was being asked of them.
"They were very long filming days and it was great fun to do something totally different, and of course after Covid it was just lovely to be out and about driving around the countryside when no one else could leave their home."
Jamie described the whole experience as "really exciting" and although they didn't win a cash prize, the couple did see their bookings go through the roof, for not just tables in the restaurant but bedrooms too.
He added: "Every weekend we have a four in a bed couple coming to visit, so that has been great fun and brilliant for the businesses which has been a huge relief, as a little village pub like my one in the middle of nowhere costs me a £1,000 a day to run roughly, so the only reason people people come out for lunch or whatever is to eat delicious food so we are more of a restaurant than a pub."
Shortly after filming for Four in a Bed, Jamie filmed for an episode of Salvage Hunters in April 2021, which also aired in November.
Treasure hunter, Drew Pritchard, came to Irnham on the hunt for antiques to buy, which Jamie managed to find plenty of on the estate.
Jamie said: "He goes round to posh houses and salvage yards and buys whatever it is he thinks he can sell. He has a shop in Conwy in Wales where he renovates whatever it is that needs to be repaired and then sells it in the shop, but of course the programme see's him buying it.
"He's a very engaging guy."
Jamie is keen to make a name for the pub, and explains how they were actually open every day during lockdown and that they "continue to be open every single day."
He said: "About 90 per cent of pubs, especially rural ones, shut for one or two days, but we are trying to establish ourselves as a pub that is open every single day."
