Oakham friends showcase Rutland watering holes with Pub Natter podcast, featuring a chat with MP Alicia Kearns

Two friends have launched a podcast to help promote a county’s pubs and give a voice to residents with a story or two to tell.

Tim Ives and Justin Perry, from Oakham, have set themselves the enviable task of touring the watering holes of Rutland to speak with landlords and special guests for their Pub Natter podcast.

For such a quintessentially English topic, the idea came from an unlikely source.

“I do a lot of work for an American online company and was showing the owner around the south west of the UK,” Tim said.

“I met him in some old English pub and he said ‘you know you could start a podcast chatting with people in old pubs – people would love that in America’.

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“I had it in mind for a while and decided to kick if off with Justin last October.”

The fortnightly podcasts are split into two parts – an interview with the host landlord and then a special guest.

It kicked off at the award-winning Railway Inn, at Ketton, before a series of interviews with the Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club which meets at the Grainstore in Oakham.

Other hostelries featured include The Noel at Whitwell, and the Olive Branch, at Clipsham, where they chatted with Rutland MP Alicia Kearns.

The latest episode, released on Saturday, features a natter with Ryck Turner, owner of the George Inn, Oakham, and Rutland County Council chairman Andrew Brown.

Oakham venues Jinkies and the Wheatsheaf have been lined up as well as chats with writers Tracey Dene Powell and Adam Croft.

“We have a lot planned – it’s great,” Tim added.

“Both of us have worked away from home a lot so even though we have been here a long time, we haven’t seen as much of Rutland as we would like.

“I’m very lucky that I’m at a period of my life where I can do stuff that I want to do.”

After 22 years in the RAF, Tim worked as a dental hygienist until about five years ago, and 10 years ago he also set up an online virtual university with an American colleague.

Justin, meanwhile, began his career as a quantity surveyor before moving into law.

In the long term, Tim wants to create a podcast around oral health for the dental industry.

“This is just a fun way to learn the skills in putting podcasts together and also to give something back to Rutland,” he explained.

“We want to promote the local pubs while giving a voice to interesting people here.

“Justin and I have a background of getting inside people’s heads and getting to know people.”

The podcasts could be set for a wider audience outside the county after the Campaign for Real Ale, with whom Tim is involved, agreed to feature the podcasts on their website.

“As with research projects, you start something and never really know what’s going to happen,” Tim added.

“It might become big, or it might stay small as it is.”

To give Pub Natter a listen, visit https://timothyives.com/pubnatter/