The handyman, painting and decorating team of Darrell, Dougie and Duncan – she couldn’t distinguish who was who, they were all rotund and dark-haired – set about their task with gusto, beginning with the bar. The plan was to strip the walls back to the original plaster, see what was under the revolting sticky carpets and take off the laminate cladding from around the bar. Darrell, or it could have been Dougie, was sure the original stone bar lay underneath.
‘Leave it with us, Livvy my lover,’ he said, cheerfully. ‘A brew on the hour, every hour is all we need. You won’t recognise the old place once we’ve finished with it.’
Livvy fled to the kitchen, where she sought refuge. She began ringing round beer suppliers, wanting to reopen with something more exciting than the generic stuff previously on offer. Trying to overlook the ominous bumps and thumps coming from the bar, she ignored the missed call from her parents and dialled the first number on her list. It was Lullbury Bay’s Micro Brewery and sounded promising.
Taking in a tray of tea and biscuits, an hour later, she gasped. The chintzy wallpaper had been stripped off, the Germoline pinklampshades had gone, and half of the revolting carpet had been torn up.
Putting the tray on the dust-sheet covered bar, she stood in amazement.
One of the Ds came up to her, stepping carefully over the rolled-up carpet. He took a mug and drank half in one go. ‘Told you we’d get a shifty on.’ He brushed a hand over his mouth, leaving a streak of dust. ‘To be fair, the stripping out don’t take too long. We’ll need another skip though.’
Livvy nodded.
‘You’m lucky. Walls are sound as far as we can tell. Might need a bit of re-plastering in places. You want a rough look though, don’t you?’ He beckoned to her. ‘And come and have a look-see over here.’
Following him, Livvy looked down to where he pointed. ‘Stone flags!’ she exclaimed.
‘Original ones, I reckon. From when the place was built.’
‘Why would anyone want to cover them up?’
‘Beats me.’ Darrell/Dougie/Duncan scratched his head. ‘Some folk reckon they feel cold but in a bar you can’t do no better. Don’t have to worry about mucky boots or spills, or Pete’s smelly dog.’
‘Do you think they’ll come up with a clean?’
‘Oh yeah. We’ll give ’em a deep clean and shove some sealant on. Be as good as new.’
‘They’ll be fantastic.’ She paused and hazarded a guess, ‘Darrell. Just what I had in mind.’
He beamed, a blush staining his rounded features. ‘Pleasure. Be nice to see the old place go back to what it was. Didn’t like what that company did to it. Didn’t suit the old girl.’
They returned to the bar where he drank the rest of his tea. Shoving two custard creams in at once, he said, through crumbs, ‘You’ll be wanting the back room done too, I reckon?’
‘Do you think you’ll have time?’
He nodded. ‘Oh ar. We likes to get our heads down, get the inside jobs done this time of year. If you wants, we can come back in the spring and get going on the beer garden. Been fair neglected has that. Shame. Best view in Lullbury. We do a bit of landscaping too. Can’t do that until the weather improves though and we go off to the family place in Lanzarote January to March, like, but we’ll fit you in. Only take the jobs we wants to do.’ He gave a broad wink and named the pub chain Livvy had bought The Runaways off. ‘They didn’t give no locals no work so it’s good to get all the crap they foisted on the place out. You get back to what you’m doing. We’ll be clear by eight tonight and then you can have the place to yourself again.’
Livvy returned to the kitchen. It had been a gamble to take Darrell and his sons on, but it looked to be paying off. Ringing her father to assure him all was going to plan, she was so engrossed in furniture catalogues she didn’t, at first, hear the knock on the kitchen door. Opening it, she said, with genuine pleasure, ‘Mark!’ She hadn’t seen him since the night he introduced himself.
They settled at one of the high food prep tables, on two bar stools she’d rescued before they disappeared into a skip. Livvy made yet another pot of tea. Pushing over the half empty packet of custard creams, she asked, ‘What brings you here? You know I’m shut for the duration, don’t you?’
He nodded. ‘Saw Darrell’s sign outside. And the full skip. Once he gets going, he doesn’t mess about. I see all the pink is on the way out.’
‘They’re okay though, aren’t they? Pete said they were local and reliable although Jason Lemmon said, in his opinion, they were a bit flaky.’ Pete was rapidly becoming the go-to source for local knowledge. She was getting fond of him.
Mark looked up quickly at the mention of Jason’s name. ‘They’re fine. They’ll do a cracking job. So, you’ve been getting to know the locals then?’
Livvy pulled a face. ‘Not many. Old Pete’s been in every evening and Jason’s popped by once or twice. I suppose it doesn’t help that I’ve had to close.’
‘Probably not,’ Mark said cheerfully. ‘But we’re used to the place being shut. We can put up with it for another week or so. What are you having done?’
Livvy showed him her ideas folder. It was nothing more than a messy collection of photographs, but it gave an indication of how she saw the pub developing. ‘The wood burner is going in the old fireplace, once Darrell has opened it up and I’ve booked the chimney sweep in.’ She gave Mark a quick glance. ‘I can’t believe it was bricked up, it’ll be such a super feature when it’s done.’
He nodded. ‘I have a wood burner in my place. You can’t beat them on a winter’s night. It’s almost like having another person there. They’re good company.’ Shrugging, as if embarrassed about what he’d revealed, he added, ‘Not that it often gets all that cold here, but the damp comes off the sea and gets right into your bones.’
‘Darrell’s promised me the stone flags are going to come up beautifully. I’m really excited about those. The walls are going to be rough rendered and the beams cleaned back. Haven’t decided on lighting yet, that’s a fairly crucial thing to get right and I need to source some furniture too.’
‘You’re on your own with the lighting, I wouldn’t have a clue, but I might be able to help you with furniture. A friend runs an auction house in Bridport.’ He took a biscuit and crunched into it. ‘I’ll give him a ring, shall I? Fancy a day out?’ He looked around at the unused kitchen. ‘You can’t do much in the pub while the work’s going ahead, can you?’
