16 Apr 2023
In hospitality, good news has been scarce of late – what with Covid, the cost of living crisis and the cost of utilities – it hasn’t been easy for the sector.
However, local employer Farr Brew have bucked those trends and recently secured a significant nationwide award for their Wheathampstead based flagship – The Elephant & Castle.
In 2022 the pub was confirmed in the top 5 Best Destination Pubs in Britain in the Great British Pub Awards. 2023 has seen them go further, now awarded Best Rural Craft Beer Pub in Britain in the brewery trade awards.
This marks a significant period of growth for Farr Brew who have previously secured awards for their beer as well as their nationally recognised sustainability credentials.
Owner Nick Farr said: “This award recognizes the huge effort that our lovely team at the Elephant goes to every day – ensuring that service is kept as the absolute priority.
“The pub has five Farr Brew ales on rotation, phenomenal chefs in Michal and Alex, plus a wonderful front of house team headed up by manager Georgina. We source only the highest quality local ingredients. In fact, our specials are generally from our wonderful farmer John who takes our spent grain from the brewery to feed his animals which in turn come to our kitchen for our chefs to make delicious meals with.”
Co-owner Matt Elvidge agreed: “As Nick mentions, the importance of locality is totally at the core. I look after the kitchen teams – we ensure we are always stocking the best we can buy. Our wine lists are huge and curated by our in-house sommeliers, our beer is produced just two miles away at Farr Brew HQ by our fantastic head brewer Jason Moylan, and our garden provides a lovely space for families with our play area, crafted planting, secret castle and beautiful tipis. We set out to be the best pub we could possibly imagine. We took over the pub a week before the first lockdown and have spent every moment since figuring out what else we could do to perfect our offer.”
Farr Brew are expanding their footprint and opening The Bell in Tring following a refurbishment.
Nick explained: “The Bell will be our sixth pub and represents our first high street location… but we just try to do the same in all pubs – ensure the service is friendly, and the quality of the products is high.
“The Elephant will always be our template….we are hugely proud of the place. So it’s a huge thanks to all our lovely customers who have supported us through some extremely difficult times – thank you for coming and helping us realise our dream of a true home in this beautiful location.”
