Ginger Pig founder helps breathe new life into White Swan at Harringworth

Eager locals are set to get their village pub back later this year after work began to restore a 17th century coaching inn back to its former glory.

Local entrepreneur Tim Wilson has teamed up with couple Patrice Lardon and Monika Peleckaite to renovate the White Swan in Harringworth.

The Grade II listed pub, affectionately known to locals as the Mucky Duck, dates back to about the 1620s or 30s - a decade or so before the English Civil War - but has laid closed and unloved since 2018.

Tim, founder of the successful Ginger Pig chain of butchers, moved to the village two years ago and sold his vision for the White Swan pub to Patrice, who worked for the company as a deli manager, specialising in charcuterie.

As well as a pub and restaurant, there will also be a coffee room and a shop selling home-made meaty treats, including charcuterie, hams, pork pies and sausage rolls.

“Pubs need to do more than just sell pints of beer,” Tim said.

“This is something different.

“If anyone can make it work as an eating place then it’s Patrice. I have known him a long time and he’s an excellent chef."

Patrice originally hails from Lyon, considered the gastronomic capital of France, and has worked as a chef for more than 20 years.

However, he has a very British food model in mind - more black pudding than cordon bleu.

“It’s definitely going to be more Mucky Duck than White Swan,” he said.

“Some people were a bit worried about the place being turned into a gastropub as it was previously, but they are happy it’s going to be a village pub again, with nice beers, pie and mash, and good atmosphere.

“I have been working in England for more than 15 years so I learned how to make pies, black pudding and all of these beautiful things, and that’s what I’m going to bring here.”

Tim has a proven track record in business, and also deals in antiques, specialising in 16th and 17th century pieces.

Yet he admits the decision to buy the pub was influenced more by heart than head.

And in part to save the handsome old community hub from being carved up into flats.

“There was absolutely no homework done whatsoever, it was a total gamble,” Tim explained.

“It is just a gut feeling - a nice building in a lovely village.

“People say it was a coaching inn right from the 17th century and became more renowned later when the London Waggon used to call in here.

“It has not been looked after - when you have a building that has been empty for three years, it doesn’t look at its best.

“But it’s coming back to life and will be there in six months.”

Work began in the depths of mid-winter, and if all goes to plan, the team hope to be open for business by the autumn.

Yet before digging out his apron, Patrice has had to get his hands dirty, alongside Monika, in stripping back the White Swan’s interior back to the 1600s, under Tim’s watchful eye.

As well as the bar and two dining rooms, there are also three guest rooms on the first floor, and their own second-floor living quarters to work through.

It has been a far cry from the heat of the kitchen.

“I helped my dad as a teenager to earn a few Francs, but that was about it,” he said.

“My DIY skills are not great, I am more a labourer than a bricklayer, but Tim is a really good teacher and has been very hands on.

“It all feels a bit slow because I just want to grab the knife again and leave the trowel and plaster behind!”

The hospitality industry has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, but the White Swan’s latest custodians are confident about the future.

“We hear that there are about 30 pubs closing every week so the sector has difficulties,” Patrice added.

“But also you see the pubs that offer the right prices, good service, and the right attitude can survive and do work, so we are confident.

“It is like everything else, if you don’t try, you don’t know!”