AFTER three decades Eric Hargeaves knows the secret of success in the pub trade -- hard graft!
Eric and wife Trish have run the Royal Oak in Riley Green, near Blackburn, for nine years and previously had a 17 year stint at the Higher Buck at Waddington.
He said: "It's a totally different world from when we started out. There is so much more in the way of competition, we have to go that extra mile to attract custom and do so in a professional manner.
"When we started, you got a little business and had to spend a couple of years proving yourself before the brewery would promote you to bigger premises.
"It irks me to see people taking over successful concerns with no experience whatsoever. One guy we knew said he wanted to retire into a country pub well, believe me, you don't retire into any pub.
"You have to realise that running a pub is a vocation. It's enjoyable, but if you want to survive and prosper then it takes a hell of a lot of hard graft."
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