This week we spoke with Gina Laycock, who runs the Cross Guns Inn in Egerton alongside husband Tony. The pub reopened seven weeks ago after being closed for 18 months.

Facilities include outdoor spaces, as well as a function room and private bar.

Can you tell us some history about the pub?

Gina said: “I used to live across the road in the 1980s, so I remember the pub from then, when it was the old original building, the black and white building. That was run as a normal pub.

“My grandfather was born and bred in Dunscar, and I do know that he used to drink in the pub in the 1920s.”

The 52-year-old added: “Back in the 80s, when my mum used to drink in here with some of her friends, I used to come in and eat hot beef barms that the landlady used to cook – I just remember the hot beef barms used to be extremely popular.”

Now the barms are back on the pub’s ‘light bites’ menu. Gina said her memories of the pub played a role in taking it over.

Gina, who has lived in the area her whole life, added: “We have run pubs on the food side as franchises in the past. We were actually approached for this pub and obviously because it was the Cross Guns and where it was, the history behind it and where my family are from, that is the reason why I did want to take this pub.

“I wouldn’t have done any other pub.”

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 Do you serve food?

“We certainly do, yes. It’s all your normal pub classics, probably with a bit of a twist – we do loaded steaks and loaded chicken fries, but it’s mainly homemade cheese and onion pie, everything’s homemade, everything’s fresh.

“We do normal fish and chips as well, it’s just your pub classics basically, but home cooked pub classics, not your freezer-type foods, if that makes sense.

“It’s all home cooked.”

Do you have an outdoor space at the pub?

“We do, we have an outdoor front area which we do allow dogs in as well, we allow dogs in the main bar area, and the front beer garden.

“We have a side garden, and we have a dining room and a ‘path’ area at the back as well, where no dogs are allowed.

“We have an area there that has tables and chairs in, that’s where all the food is.”

Gina added: “We’ve also got a brand new outside TV being installed next week, in the side garden.”

What’s the most popular drink you serve?

“The most popular drink I would say is the Poretti, if you’re looking on the beers. On the beers it’s definitely Peretti and San Miguel.

“The wines we do the Pino Grigio, the Pinot Grigio blush – we have every red wine from Merlot to Malbec – I’d say the Malbec was very popular on the red, and the Pinot Grigio on the white and the Pinot Grigio blush are extremely popular.

“We also have the Prosecco which is extremely popular. We do a deal on a Wednesday, we have a Prosecco day on a Wednesday which is £12.95 a bottle all day and all night.”

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Do you have an entertainment line-up?

“We do, we have entertainment every Saturday where we have live singers, they usually consist of a solo artist or a duo, and that’s every Saturday at 9pm to 11pm.

“It’s a brilliant atmosphere, usually we get quite a lot that have already eaten on the premises and they usually stay as well for the entertainment later, and then obviously we get a crowd that just comes in independently to watch the entertainment.

 “That’s like a mixed crowd, a very mixed age group from 60s down to people in their 20s. It’s a very mixed age group, which is great.”

What are the biggest challenges in the industry at the moment and how do you overcome them?

“With us just opening, it’s only been reopened and it’s been closed for 18 months, the challenge at the moment is trying to get it re-established as a community pub, because previously it was actually run as more of a high-end restaurant, prior to us coming in to this place.

“It was closed for 18 months after being run as a high-end restaurant so we are just trying to make it more of a community pub, we’ve installed all the TVs now so we show all the live sport and all the pay-per-view sport, so we’ve installed all the TVs.

“Obviously getting brand new staff coming in, obviously staff for the bar area, brand new staff for the food area.”

What’s the best thing about running the pub?

“Oh, meeting new faces, speaking to the customers, it’s just the general social aspects of it as well, I’d say.

“I’m a very sociable person and I love mingling with everybody, I also like working alongside the staff that we have – both myself and Tony do put a number of hours in, we like to work alongside our staff – we feel that is extremely important.

“Tony is the head chef, although he’s the landlord as well, he’s the head chef of the kitchen – so he does work quite a lot of hours.”

What’s the worst thing about running the pub?

“It’s obviously an endless job, it’s 24/7, you need to be on the ball every minute of every day, especially when you know you’ve got a lot of staff underneath you, you’ve got to make sure you’re on top of everything.”

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.