People in a Nottinghamshire village say they are proud that it still boasts seven pubs despite landlords across the country being forced to close their businesses. Determining the number of pubs in Ruddington is a slight matter of interpretation given that one establishment, Nottingham Knight, has a Ruddington postcode despite being located away from the centre of the village.
Most people in Ruddington stick to the figure of seven and boundary disputes aside, all are in agreement the village has an impressive number of pubs in a country where so many are being lost. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) says in the first half of this year, pubs were closing at a rate of around 18 per week across the UK.
Nottinghamshire Live has also been reporting on difficult decisions being made by pub owners in the county. One trio of friends in Hucknall are closing their pub after just six months of ownership due to rising electricity bills, whilst the only pub in one Nottinghamshire village is set to be demolished and turned into housing.
Read more: Couple 'determined' as they step in to save Nottinghamshire village's only pub
Despite facing the same challenges as pub owners around the UK, those in Ruddington say the village's community spirit is sustaining all seven of its pubs for now. Georgia Moore, 27, the manager of The White Horse Inn, says each of Ruddington's pubs fulfills its own role in the village.
She said: "We definitely all have our own unique offering to the village and are known for different things. We have become quite well known for our events and we have catered for everything from weddings to birthdays here because we have our big marquee.
"That unique place in the village that we all have really helps us and I'd definitely say that it is a friendly sense of competition that we all have. We all help each other out as well if anyone needs anything, and I would always recommend other pubs in the village if people were looking for something different to what we offer.
"There really is an amazing sense of community spirit in Ruddington and I think that's also why we do have this number of pubs. We do have the challenges that pubs everywhere face, one of them being the problem of no-shows where people book tables and then don't turn up, but overall we're very well supported by this community."
Ruddington's community spirit is also on show in The Frame Breakers, owned by John Noble, 45. John and The Frame Breakers' manager, Dave Frankie, 39, have been making trips to Poland and Ukraine to deliver aid and assistance to the latter country.
These trips have been made possible thanks to donations from customers at The Frame Breakers and the wider community, which now total at least £5,000. John Noble said: "It is a great community here and their donations have meant that we've been able to do one trip to Poland, where we were able to unload a van full of donations ready for Ukraine, and then another trip to Ukraine itself.
"The level of support has been incredible and we are planning to go back again, probably around February time, so we're still taking those donations. It's a great village and it's not just the Ruddington people that keep its pubs going.
"Ruddington is also a bit of an attraction for people from the wider area because we've got the multi-award winning Indian restaurant here that draws people in, and they can come and have a drink in Ruddington's pubs before they go there for a meal. We've also got the Italian restaurant as well and the nice cafés, so it's quite a destination for people to come and have a great evening."
One group of regulars at The Frame Breakers is made up of Ruddington residents Steve Herbert, 71, Steve Luck, 67, and Brian Hamilton, 65. When Nottinghamshire Live visited, Ray Kinsley, 70, had even made the trip back to Ruddington despite now living in King's Lynn.
Brian Hamilton said: "Ruddington does have an impressive amount of pubs but even this amount is a lot less than we had years ago. It is obviously better than the situation in most places and it is a good mixture of pubs that we have."
Steve Luck said: "The funny thing is that even though we've got so many pubs and especially years ago, everyone tended to stick to the same pub. Those were in the days when pubs were absolutely full and if you went in a pub that you didn't usually go into, you'd often get people saying 'what are you doing in here?'
"The Frame Breakers is a very traditional pub in the sense that there isn't a jukebox or a fruit machine, it's all about the conversation. There's never any trouble either, at least not until we've left.
"The pub scene has changed a lot over the years and this place used to be a completely different pub. We still actually call it 'The Brickies' from when it used to be The Bricklayer's Arms, but it is a totally different pub now and it's got a great atmosphere."
The sense of change is reflected in many of Ruddington's pubs, including at The Red Lion, which underwent a major refurbishment when a new landlord came in around three years ago. Brod Broadberry, 20, has worked at The Red Lion since he was 18.
He said: "The first thing I noticed when I came here is that everybody seems to know each other and each other's life stories. It's a big village but it still has a tight-knit community feel about it and we've very well supported."
But the landlord, 42-year-old Gareth McManus, says he does have some fears for the future. He said: "We do very well here, especially at the weekends, but there are so many challenges in the pub industry now. The bills for literally everything keep going up and up and we don't pass all of that on to the customers, so we're now making probably 10p a pint.
"We have really turned this place around and it's always hard to judge how busy it will be, but we do tend to do very well on the weekends. Having the World Cup in November has really helped us this year as well, because that's usually a really quiet month as people are saving before Christmas.
"But January will soon be coming around and that is always a really hard month." Ruddington's pub owners and pub-goers remain positive about the village's drinking scene for now, and seven is certainly an eye-catching number of pubs for an area to have in the current climate.
But despite its sense of community and the unique offering that each pub gives to the village, its owners are not immune to the challenges that have blighted the UK's pub industry in recent years. When asked about the future prospects for the village, Gareth McManus added: "It is incredibly hard now and unfortunately, in the years to come, I don't think all of our pubs will make it."
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