Starting Up with Rebecca Jones @ The Fleece, Witney

The Fleece, a lovely Georgian building overlooking Witney’s beautiful Church Green, was once the home of Clinch’s brewery founded by James Clinch in around 1811 and a favourite watering-hole of Dylan Thomas when he lived at South Leigh Manor in the 1940’s.

When we arrived in the spring of 2003, we completely refurbished the pub, preserving all of its fine Georgian features, and gave it another once-over in the autumn of 2011. Being busy with drinkers, diners and hotel guests from morning til night, the time inevitably came round again for a spruce-up. So we took the decision to shut the pub for a week to get the work done earlier this month.

What we were anxious to do was to bring out the pub’s classic Cotswold character while making it even more comfy – somewhere difficult to tear yourself away from. So we went for big armchairs upholstered in English woollen fabrics in a nod to the town’s blanket making history, warm colours throughout, beautiful paper on feature walls and alcove shelves lined with vintage plates, copper jugs and kitchenalia.

And, sheep! It’s quite a sheepy theme, in honour not just of the pub’s name but also of the area’s long association with breeding and grazing sheep and the wool trade.

As with any project like this, you’re completely in the hands of the builders and contractors who work for you and I have to say ours were absolutely brilliant. They all got stuck in and were totally involved in what we were doing. What a great bunch of people they were, a joy to work with.

Bernie the chip made all the new shelves and reconfigured the bar so our coffee machine now faces outwards meaning we’re now ready to greet you with a smile while making your coffee; Mike the decorator, a giant of a man with a sense of humour to match, made short work of the stairwells and ceilings, and Andy the electrician put up all our gleaming new copper lights.

The locals would peer in through the windows on their way to or from town and work to watch what was going on. I was there every day, on tea duty, taking pictures to put onto Facebook and Twitter so people could see how things were coming along.

Halfway through the work, we made use of the pub being closed to get our team together for a training day. Rather rashly, I thought it would be a good idea to hold this in my garden at home. Luckily we picked the only nice day of the week because there is no way we would ever have fitted into my small house!

Anyway, the sun shone and we had a glorious day, talking about how we wanted to run the pub when it re-opened, and what we’d do to look after our guests better. We did role play and acted out scenarios. Afterwards we went kayaking and then sat on the riverbank having a drink together in the evening. I got pushed into the water by Michael Halbert my head chef – not quite the bonding moment I had expected!

So how did it feel to go back into the pub once the work was all done? I’ve got to say I was a bit apprehensive, and had to be dragged back through the door by Jo Eames, who co-owns the pub, and is the clever person who masterminded our new look.

What was I worried about? That it was going to look quite different. Would it still feel like The Fleece? Would people like it? You often hear about refurbishments that change the character of the place completely.

I needn’t have worried. It’s still very much The Fleece, only a smarter, brighter, more stylish and homely Fleece.

Everyone loves its comfy new interior, the bold new colours and the new wallpaper which even looks like St Mary’s Church outside.

They also love the bar stools with the new ram logo stencilled into their backs, the hanging bracket for the new pub sign which was made specially by local blacksmith David Joy, and the ram himself who looks like he’s walking across the front of the building!

The three rams heads, which look like they’re bursting through the eatery wall are causing a big stir.

We’ve asked children from local primary schools to come up with a name for them and we’ll put little plaques up with the winning ones.

The biggest compliment we have had is that people are saying, “It still feels like our Fleece, only lovelier than ever.”

I really love this place and I hope you will too. Please come and see us soon.

TRY IT
The Fleece is at 11 Church Green, Witney, OX28 4AZ. 
Call 01933 892270 or visit fleecewitney.co.uk