Enter the Bell Inn at Horndon-on-the-Hill, Essex, and you are immediately struck by its Tudor influence. To say this place has beams is an understatement. Every other inch is mahogany or dark wood and together with the pub's log fire, the four-bedroom pub imparts a warm and cosy feel.
Much of the Bell's friendly atmosphere can be put down to the fact it has been tenanted by the same family for some 60 years. The Bonsons took over the pub in 1938 and ran it for 32 years before passing it to their daughter and son-in-law, Christine and John Vereker. However, the property was tied to Bass, so when the Tied Beer Orders were implemented in 1992 and Bass had to free some pubs, the Verekers seized the chance to buy the Bell.
"We were one of the lucky ones to benefit from the Monopolies and Mergers Commission report," says John Vereker. "There are many advantages to being a tenant, such as starting up without needing much capital. But the problem with being tied is that you can't negotiate on the cost of the brewery's beer. It's known as a wet rent and can work out expensive.
"In the year before we became a free house, our annual rent was £28,000, but because we have a big barrelage my wet rent was half of that again."
The Bell serves two standard beers, Fuller's London Pride and Charrington IPA, plus two guest beers that change daily or weekly. "Last year we went through 550 barrels of beer and we offered 144 different types," says Vereker. The Bell sold an amazing 1,534 cases of wine last year. But, despite its liquid attractions, it is the food that is the real success story.
When the Verekers first introduced food to the Bell in the 1970s, food sales immediately took 20% of business, while wet became 80%. Roles have reversed considerably since then, though, and food sales now account for 56% of the business.
Head chef Sean Kelly joined the pub as a commis in 1985 after completing his City & Guilds 706/1 and 706/2 at Thurrock College, and gradually climbed the kitchen ranks. His ties with the college remain strong - he lectures there every Monday evening, taking students through NVQ level two.
"Because we take students from Thurrock College, I wanted to see how they were being taught. In my spare time I went to see how the NVQs compared with the C&G course I did. After a few weeks, the lecturers asked me if I would like to take a class," says Kelly. "I get a massive amount of satisfaction from it."
Kelly is a local boy and grew up in nearby Wickford. He has no desire to work at any of the big city upmarket hotels or restaurants - he loves the area and enjoys working in a pub environment.
With a laid dining area of 36 in one-third of the pub and room for a further 25 in the bar, the pub does a staggering 800 covers a week. "At peak times, we can do up to 1,000 covers a week," says Kelly. "It's a huge challenge. It's not easy doing 1,000 covers a week and maintaining standards."
Menu mainstays
Pies, soups and braised items are the mainstay of the daily changing à la carte and blackboard menu. Soups, which generally cost £2.80, can range from cream of celery with blue cheese dumplings to tomato and potato with smoked haddock. While some dishes are extremely traditional, such as steak and kidney pie (£4.95), stuffed lamb's hearts (£4.85) and grilled Dover sole (£12.95), others take on more unusual flavour combinations, such as sautéd chicken livers with sweetcorn fritter and port sauce (£3.60) or trout fillets and vegetable spaghetti with a lemon butter sauce (£6.95).
Home-made sausages feature in various flavours on the menus, such as smoked pork, beef and beer, steak and kidney, seafood, and venison and red pepper (featured on page 39). "I introduced sausages to the menu about 18 months ago. I'm into old-fashioned cooking in a big way."
How many sausages Kelly makes depends on the amount of trimmings he has to use up. In the case of the venison sausages, he buys the meat in specifically for them and makes about 35-40 portions at one time. Although it takes a chef at least an hour to make sausages, Kelly will not relent and buy them in. "I enjoy making them here - it's a form of education for the brigade," he says.
The venison and red pepper sausages (£5.50) are served with either creamed potato and gravy or pease pudding and red wine sauce. Kelly uses minced venison shoulder and pork belly, which he mixes with breadcrumbs, thyme, garlic, onion, roasted red peppers and juniper berries.
Once the mixture is ready and has been rolled into sausages, they are wrapped in caul fat and steamed for five minutes before being gently fried.
Chicken, leek and potato pastry pie with wild mushrooms (£9.95) is time-consuming to make and consequently only appears on the menu when the pub is quieter. Kelly got the recipe for potato pastry from a wartime cookery book. To make the pastry, he mixes cold mashed potato with self-raising flour, wholemeal flour, parsley, butter and seasoning. This is then used as a base and lid, filled with the chicken, leek and mushroom mixture.
Sponge puddings are probably the most popular desserts on the menu. In fact, Kelly has had several requests not to take them off. He offers at least two hot desserts and three cold.
Kelly normally makes eight steamed chocolate sponges (£3.50 a portion) at a time. For the recipe featured here, he cooks the sponges with toasted nuts and toffee sauce. The sponges are made in the traditional way, steamed in dariole moulds and served with orange segments, zest and mint.
The Verekers also own a property two doors up from the Bell called Hill House. The Georgian building was bought 10 years ago and was originally used for staff accommodation. But it has since been converted into a separate 30-seat restaurant with 10 bedrooms. Guests staying at the Bell or Hill House have breakfast at the latter restaurant, but it opens for general use on Friday and Saturday nights only. A sous chef and commis from the Bell's eight-strong brigade cook in the Hill House kitchen on those nights. Dishes are similar to those served at the Bell, but are slightly more refined.
It is unusual to find a 29-year-old chef who has only worked in one kitchen, but Kelly rejects any suggestions he might be too frightened to move on. "It's not that I don't feel confident about my abilities. But I think any potential employer would not look at my CV seriously because I have been working in the same pub-restaurant for 11 years. If I was up against someone who'd done a year at the Dorchester or Savoy, who are they going to look at?"
Nevertheless, with various accolades under his belt, including a star in Egon Ronay's 1996 Guide to Pubs & Inns, and covers averaging 100-plus a day, Kelly can rest assured he's getting things right.
NEXT WEEK: Chef's Take Five series features a chef who has moved from a 35-seat Michelin-starred London restaurant to a 200-seat pub-restaurant in East Anglia