With its rich background in comedy nights that have been host to Rob Brydon amongst other big names, The Potters Arms is nestled between High Wycombe and Watford, with all the benefits of a market town community. BII’s Eleanor Kirby spoke to licensee Richard Edwards to talk about key investments and keeping customers enthused. Once tenants of Brakspear in 2012, Richard raised funds to purchase The Potters Arms in 2018. Influenced by their backgrounds in restaurants and with experience in the wine cellar at Harvey Nicholls in Manchester, the pub usually operates at a split of 40% food, 45% drink and 15% rooms, with a comedic twist.
“I’d been trying to get Rob Brydon to perform a comedy set at the pub for years, and when the contracts lined up it just so happened that we were raising funds to buy the pub. We had 300 guests, with takeaway boxes of fillet steak for the interval!”
They certainly reached their goal, and so a pair of free-traders were born. Going back a few years from Brydon’s debut, Richard had deliberately put himself at the epicentre of comedic performance by using his precious time off productively in the early days.
“Obviously being in hospitality my days off tended to be Mondays and Tuesdays, I used to take myself off to the Comedy Store in Leicester Square. After the final act I’d stay behind and, being the personality I am, I met up with the comedians afterwards. They became good friends that way”.
Connections made include Andy Parsons and Zoe Lyons, as well as carving out a reputation for The Potters Arms being the only other venue the Comedy Store will venture to outside the perimeters of Leicester Square. A pretty incredible feat considering tickets were a very reasonable £20 with an interval meal included.
Richard distinctly remembers a young Romesh Ranganathan whom he paid £150 to do a 20 minute set. “There’s no way I’d get him for that now!” It pays to have some of that Comedy Store zeitgeist rub off!
In the throes of the first lockdown, Richard received a BounceBack loan soon after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the one year interest-free finance.
“We used it to build our terrace bar, we got a draught pull out there, a pizza oven, an ice cream machine… we even do alcoholic slush puppies.” Popularity speaks for itself as Richard highlights that the number of pizzas sold from August 2019 to March 2020 was 220, rising to 1000 just 6 weeks after the first terrace Potters Pizzas were flung in the air.
With the scent of freshly made pizzas meeting the noses of local explorers, it’s no wonder they’re one of the best-selling items from the terrace bar. “All flavours bring in a GP of about 80-85%, we have a five meat farmhouse pizza, but also do the classics, and our vegan options are popular too.” These are priced between £12.50 and £13.95, to reflect the high quality ingredients and affluent local area.
“Pre-Covid, I always said that the location is a destination place, you’ll only chance upon us if you’re driving to meet someone or you’re lost! Recently, though, it has worked in our favour because of the amount people are going for their daily walks. The Times Magazine featured us in October and published a local walk in Amersham, with us as the place to stop for lunch.”
“I’m in the process of joining Just Eat, we currently have an app which lets customers order online for click and collect, and I installed a Ring video doorbell so if anyone wants to stop by they can still receive our best service.
As well as Just Eat, Richard has further targeted locals through High Wycombe Eats which has a similar business model. “My motto is quality and consistency and that fares really well on these apps. I think they’re a really good way to get us out there and target a new group of people. We’ve also started baking our own cakes and getting donuts from a local baker.”
This cross over with using local suppliers is also a brilliant way to introduce new customers via their new products as suppliers can often bring their own following your way too.
Currently closed after their Christmas appeal, Richard raves about Save Pub Lives, the voucher programme run by Budweiser that saw him rack up over £2,000 in vouchers that customers could spend in the pub or terrace bar upon reopening.
“After the first lockdown Save Pub Lives did vouchers for pubs where they would match any purchases up to the value of £1,000. Then, after the November lockdown it was changed slightly to a concept more suitable for Christmas – say someone bought a friend a voucher for £100, this was matched so the friend could go with them.”
Further funding came from the Christmas Support Payment (Wet Led Grant) as Richard was keen to read into eligibility that said it applied to pubs making less than 50% of their sales from food.
The Potters Arms is the haven where creativity, comedy and number crunching meets. As one local newspaper said, “this traditional pub will tickle your funny bone”, we very much hope there is comedy in store on the horizon.
