Meet Kelly
I get asked this a lot, usually by someone with a pint in hand looking out at the bay: "How on earth did you end up running this place?"
The honest answer is I fell for Cornwall long before I fell for the pub. I spent about fifteen years visiting whenever I could before I actually moved here in 2020, and even then I don't think I properly believed I'd end up behind the bar of a pub on the beach. But nearly three years ago, that's exactly what happened, and I haven't looked back since.
Running a pub in Cornwall is nothing like I imagined before I did it. I previously owned a pub in the heart of the Kent countryside and worked in various bars since the age of 17, mainly to pay my way though college and to top up my salary. It's not really about the pints or the plates, although obviously those matter enormously. It's about the rhythm of a place — knowing which regulars want their usual before they've asked, watching the tide come in from the beer garden, figuring out how to keep a building this old, warm through a Cornish winter. Some days it's spreadsheets and supplier calls. Other days it's mopping up after a storm gets in under the door. Nobody warns you about either.
What I love most is that this pub isn't just mine. It's Jules behind the bar who knows more regulars by name than I do, she’s a Cornish maid through and through and has us all under the thumb when it comes to her bar. It's the guys in the kitchen, Our head Chef, then there’s, Piab with ten years as a pastry chef under his belt and Jack, keeping prep prepped and the kitchen clean and tidy, quietly turning out sharing plates that people drive for. It's my daughter, Livvy, who lives upstairs with her partner Sam and my bautiful grandchildren, and somehow still finds time to run our socials. It's my dad, who's taken it upon himself to fix anything in this building that so much as squeaks. It’s my youngest daughter Lottie who works alongside me day after day. Louise, Elliot and Evan who are the stars at front of house, Tim who keeps everything clean and takes up the slack from and department when needed. Not to mention the long distance support from my son, Sonny and his partner Annie. This place runs on all of us, not just me.
We've had a big year of change — new rooms, a new menu with Selkie Cove, more of the back-of-house sorted than ever before. There's more coming too. I wanted to properly introduce myself before we get into all of that, because everything else you'll read here starts with this place, this team, and me trying to do right by both.
If you're visiting this summer, come and say hello. I'm usually somewhere between the till and the beer garden.
Kelly x
