Hurst's central pub - the New Inn

I met Murray at the New Inn on a Monday, so we had the place to ourselves. “For some reason the whole of Hurst seems to shut down on this day; we kept open for a few years on Mondays but in the end it wasn’t worth it.” Many business owners have had ups and downs over the last 18 months and none more so than landlords and he very much hopes that by the time you are reading this, there will be punters standing at the bar again, being served drinks.

He grew up in Surrey and his first job was in a bank in Clacton-on-Sea, ‘in the days when you could get a bank job with O’levels.’ He progressed to a finance company in the Midlands, specialising in asset finance for the printing industry, which 25 years ago was thriving. Nearly 15 years ago he and his wife Chris moved to the village, at the far end of Langton Lane and the New Inn became his pub of choice. “It’s smack in the centre of Hurst and it’s got a massive amount of history. It seems every other customer who comes in here to drink has either worked here or slept upstairs at some point during their lives, so everybody knows it.”

Then one day the landlord announced he was selling, and he thought ‘well maybe I could do that, and wind down a bit’, rather than try to pursue a career that was essentially finished, due the internet and advanced home printing. So, he took the plunge and bought it in 2016. “I didn’t quite get that right, if I’m honest with you, as I’ve had to wind up rather than down! This is a full-time occupation and there’s no other way around it.” Like many landlords and B&B owners who had envisaged a quiet life leading into retirement, he had a rude awakening. “I thought I could dip in and out; when you’re the wrong side of the bar you think you could do it, but there’s so much involved in running a successful pub.”

It became clear to them early on that living two miles away was not working out, so they renovated the four-bedroom flat above the pub and rented their house out, an arrangement that comes to an end this month. Chris is a music teacher by profession but gave up and joined the business to help Murray run it. “We went from a situation living in Langton Lane where we never saw anybody from one day to the next to here where we now know everybody. And I love it, walking down the street saying good morning to everybody and everybody’s friendly, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.

Turn to page 18 of August’s Hurst Life to learn more about the life of a landlord and his dogs.

Alison Nightingale - Village People

It began as a challenge to learn a new skill. As their three daughters – now aged 8, 11 and 13 – started to become more independent, Alison felt she needed an interest and so embarked on a four-year part-time degree course in vine-growing and wine production at nearby Plumpton College. This has enabled her to be as comfortable on a tractor taking in the latest harvest, as in analysing the alcohol content in the lab or marketing her range of white wines to local businesses.
     At the time, she had no ambition of setting up her own vineyard, although during her stint working overseas ahe had enjoyed visiting New World producers in New Zealand and Australia. It was the course, together with the growing success and interest in English wine, that inspired her.
     “The timing was perfect,” says Alison, who has already won several prestigious awards for her wines. “I was looking for a career which would fit around my family and I started vine growing when locally sourced food and drink was on the rise, with shoppers wanting to know more about the background of where their purchases came from and how they are made.”

Full article available on pages 22/23.

When Alison Nightingale and her husband Nick Cooper arrived in Hurstpierpoint 12 years ago, looking for a thriving village in which to bring up their young children, she could have scarcely imagined that she would end up helping to put Sussex wine on the map.
     Alison – who runs Albourne Estate, just outside Hurstpierpoint – is one of a small number of entrepreneurs whose vintages are starting to overturn prejudices about English wine and win a reputation among connoisseurs. 
     However, when she moved to Hurstpierpoint after a three year stint in Singapore – leaving behind a career in marketing with Heinz and Nestlé – she had no intention of turning what was an interest into a successful business.
     At first, Alison and Nick, who were living as a stopgap in London, just wanted somewhere away from the rat race, yet lively enough. “Nick was born in Steyning and knew the area well,” says Alison. “With trains from Hassocks it was easy enough for him to commute to London and we felt that Hurst was big enough to be a lively place to live but still a village with all of the benefits that this brings: a friendly community and somewhere I could easily push a pram.”
     And so the family moved into Western Road in 2003. An exciting chapter was about to open in their lives which was to see them swap village life for a farm – a farm set to be transformed into one of Sussex’s few dedicated vineyards.