Pay what you want to eat at the pub

This is a story we did on Steve and Gemma at The Fox in Stockton-on-the-Forest for The Publican. They are a lovely couple in a great pub and deserve the success they are working so hard for.

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Licensee gives customers the chance to decide how much a meal is worth

A pub has launched a menu with a difference by allowing customers to pay what they think a meal is worth.

Steve Howard took over Punch Taverns pub the Fox Inn at Stockton-on-the-Forest near York in January and wanted an unusual way to encourage customers back into the pub.

So every Wednesday diners are given the chance to pay what they like for their food.

He said: “So far this has worked really well. No-one can believe it. But one thing in our favour is the British inability to haggle.

“The first time we did it we had three people out of 25 who didn’t pay enough to cover the cost of the ingredients.

“And the lowest we’ve been offered for the rump steak was £5. Otherwise people have been very fair and offer close, or sometimes, more than what the dish would normally cost.”

Steve’s girlfriend Gemma Esders, 25, added: “It has certainly got people talking and we are seeing more people come through the door as a result.”

The couple run the special menu every Wednesday from 12-6pm and some of the regulars are ‘threatening’ to pay just £1 for the sirloin steak.

Steve prepares all of the food himself from fresh ingredients and Wednesday’s menu includes sirloin steak, mixed grill, steak and ale pie, game pie, chicken and mushroom pie, scampi, burgers, penne arrabiata, stroganoff, gammon and hunter’s chicken.

Steve said: “The pub has had seven or eight licensees over the last two or three years. This offer means people will come along, see we do decent food and give us a chance.

“From my experience I think other pubs should give this a go and see what happens.”

Read the story on The Publican website

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