“It’s very stressful, but I love it!”

Every week we like to highlight a Lancashire pub, this week we visited the Spinners Mill in Colne.

Kayleigh Fitton has recently started running the pub, and she's got ambitious carvery plans to add to her growing food offering.

Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Kayleigh Fitton and I run the Spinning Mill in Colne.

How long have you been running the pub?

I had my first ever pub role in here, back in 2015, but I started running here at the start of this year.

I’ve worked at plenty of nearby pubs like the Crown Hotel, Bees Knees, and The Union, so I’ve got plenty of experience in the industry.

What made you want to take it over?

I’ve always wanted my own pub, I’ve been an assistant manager before and always believed that with my experience, I’m strong enough to run one.

What changes have you made?

Food is a big thing for me, as soon as I took over I opened the kitchen straight away, the kitchen had been open previously here and it made loads of food that was really popular, we’re opening a carvery up soon as well.

I’m also big on deals – we’ve got 10 per cent off spirits, we’ve got ‘Steak Night’ on a Thursday and a deal on Fridays where you get two fish and chip meals for £15 – plus we’ve got pensioner's specials.

What food do you offer?

We do homemade pies including, mince and onion, cheese and onion and steak; we also have jacket potatoes and toasties, on top of our fish and chips.

In a few weeks when our carvery comes in we’ll have two or three meats, vegetables, roasties, mash, carrots, so I’m looking forward to offering that.

What are prices like?

My mains are usually around £10.95, toasties are between £4.95 and £5.95, so we’re not pricey, I cook all the food myself.

What’s the draft beer line up?

  • Fosters – Landlady’s pick as the most popular choice
  • Cruzcampo
  • Birra Moretti
  • John Smiths
  • Guinness
  • Wainrights - guest
  • Black Sheep - guest
  • Inch’s cider
  • Old Mout Berry and Cherries cider

Have you got a beer garden?

Yes, it’s a good size, we’ve got a fenced-off grass area and a smoking shelter.

What events do you do?

I’ve got a DJ, I also have poker on a Friday evening, I do live music twice a month, the bands we’ve had include Skasul, and Keith Vincent, who does karaoke from the 1960s onwards, we also have Jake Dixon, who’s a guitar act, we do get a really good turnout.

We range from getting 18-year-olds to 78-year-olds in, we have a group of men who come in on a Friday, they’ve even said they’ve never seen it as busy as it is at the moment.

What does the future hold?

I’m hoping to be extremely busy, we’re family orientated, and we’re dog friendly as well so that helps with getting people through the door, I’m hoping we can boost sales in the next six months by 50 per cent.

It’s very stressful, but I love it!