THE Tavistock Arms Hotel in Gunnislake has been owned for nine years by Bob and Audrey Hughes and their family. They have two sons, Michael and Matthew who is married to Liz and has a son, Josh.

Since they have run The Tavistock Arms vast improvements have been made and next year a total refurbishment is taking place, costing in the region of a quarter of a million pounds.

There are two bars, a lounge area, restaurant and 'snug' along with ten hotel rooms.

The family work full time and employ four mentally handicapped people on a rota system from a nearby residential home. Bob said: 'They are very able workers, they work in the kitchen, in the restaurant and on the hotel side. They are very good at their jobs and can interact well with customers.'

One such employee is Jonathan. He has Downs Syndrome and has worked at the hotel for seven years. Robert, with learning difficulties, has worked there for two years, and enjoys his job

Michael, Matthew and Liz are all qualified chefs which is fortunate as the pub is primarily family and food orientated.

The Tavistock Arms Hotel was originally opened in 1710 as a pub and is believed to be one of the oldest buildings in the area. The first public record that Bob found was in Kellys Directory - In the 1820s the local police called in the militia to control the drunk miners coming out of the The Tavistock Arms as they couldn't handle them!

The top bar was the stables, and coaches used to drive straight through the front of the building into the back. The top bar was used as a market at some point, which opened on to the street and during the Second World War what is now the car park was covered over with galvanised sheeting and used as a soup kitchen for the American GIs. The room above the top bar was used as a cinema, meeting place for the Parish Council and other groups, and as a dance hall. After that it was a corn store.

Bob explained: 'It still says in the deeds today that we have to provide hay and water for any coaches and horses stopping at the pub!'

Pat and Pam Jolly from Gunnislake come into the pub as often as possible. They agreed: 'It's homely, very friendly, the food is good and plentiful. A sandwich is a meal in itself.'

Pam added: 'They have a wonderful fire in here in the winter. It's well worth coming.'

Another group of regulars are Norman and Barbara Pearce with their good friend Annie Page. They pop in for a drink almost every day.

Norman and Barbara have lived in Gunnislake for 19 years and were the first customers that Bob and Audrey served when they first opened their doors as the new proprietors, but they are soon to be moving away to live closer to their family.

Caring

Barbara commented: 'It is delightful here.'

Annie added: 'Bob and Audrey are very kind and caring about their customers, not only in the commercial sense but personally as well. They keep an eye on us all, they even spoil us sometimes!'

Simon and Annie Wildgoose moved to the village two years ago and The Tavistock Arms Hotel has been their local ever since. Simon is retired from the Marines and Annie is the manageress of McDonalds in Tavistock.

'When we first came here we didn't know anyone or anything, where to find builders or anything else like that,' said Annie: 'We asked Bob and he helped us so much, he knows everything!' Simon joked: 'He's our fountain of knowledge!'

Annie continued: 'They are very accommodating here, doing special menus for special occasions, especially beef stew and dumplings. We play chess and backgammon here and have a quiz every Tuesday night.'

Simon joked: 'This place has been nicknamed the Hotel California because 'You can check out but never leave!'

Their dog, Floyd, is the 'pub dog' because he has been known to run off to the pub on his own until Bob calls Simon to tell him the Floyd is there drinking Guinness again!

Local news

In the pub 'most of the time' are Harry and Ann Heath. Ann said: 'It's a friendly, family pub. We come in for a drink and a chat to catch up on all the local news.'

Americans, James and Janet Gunnis from New Jersey, were at The Tavistock Arms on a day trip from Plymouth. James explained: 'We saw the name Gunnislake on a map and thought we would visit, part of the reason is the name similarity but it also looked like a nice place to come.'

They had been walking around the local routes, Janet said: 'It's been very relaxing.' 'We will be visiting here again if we're back in the area.' said James: 'We've been all around Britain before but never to Cornwall.'

Celebrating a birthday was Dilys Neate with Eileen and Jean Screech. Dilys is Jean's sister-in-law and Eileen is her daughter-in-law.

Jean laughed: 'We bought the men a pasty and left them at home while we came here.'

It was Dilys' first visit to The Tavistock Arms. She said: 'The food is absolutely delicious, I highly recommend it and its only my first time here. I'm definitely coming back.'

Eileen explained: 'I usually come here for shoot dinners. The service and food are always excellent and they are very friendly here.'

Bob reeled off a list of groups that meet at The Tavistock Arms, they included: The Friendship Club, Tamar Valley Tenants Association, Gunnislake Forum, The local University of the Third Age (U3A), The Woodland Centre, Credit Union, the local shooting club which holds its shoot dinners there and The East Cornwall Lifeboat Association. The pub hosts three darts teams, two ladies and a men's. A quiz is held every other Tuesday and a music evening every Thursday, which is usually a big jamming session for local musicians. Matthew commented: 'Once we had 30 musicians here all playing, locals and holidaymakers. It was fun. We are a very popular venue in that circle.'

The Tavistock Arms Hotel is very much a food based pub. All food is home cooked and the steak and stilton pies are the speciality, as are the 'Proper Cornish Pasties', made to a real Cornish recipe and made by a 'proper Cornish lass', Liz.

Liz said: 'I am quite surprised how popular they are, I make two dozen a week and people phone up to put their names down for one. One regular orderer is Barbara Sleep who even stops me in the street!'

Welcomes children

Matthew joked: 'It's like a cult following!'

Bob commented: 'We cater for everyone's needs and we don't advertise. All our custom is through word of mouth.'

The pub has been recommended for inclusion in the next Good Food Guide such is the quality of the food.

They serve one Cornish ale, Ventowyn from Grampound Road on the way to Truro. Bob said: 'You can't get much more Cornish than that. It's very popular.'

The Tavistock Arms Hotel is a friendly, family pub, who welcome children and dogs.