The pub which helped inspire The Archers is in the market for new landlords.
The Old Bull, in Inkberrow, is about to go up for grabs as current publicans Lyn Fishburn and Mike McCarthy are making plans to move on – and they’re expecting to see huge interest in the quirky village inn.
Nestled in the district of Wychavon, Worcestershire, Inkberrow is said to have been the model for Ambridge, the fictional setting for the BBC’s long-running radio soap which is recorded at the Mailbox in Birmingham.
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And The Old Bull inspired The Bull in Ambridge, frequented by Archers characters since the show first aired in 1950.
Business partners Lyn and Mike, who regularly serve Archers fans from all over the world, will mark six years of running the pub in September and say they’re ready for a slower pace of life.
Lyn said: “When we first came here we always said we planned to stay for six years. I’m 62 and Mike’s 60 and we’ve both been in the trade for a long time so we feel it’s the right time to reduce our hours a bit.”
The pair have each previously run country pubs in the Cotswolds and in Hanbury, six miles from Inkberrow (where St Mary the Virgin church is thought to have inspired St Stephen’s, Ambridge’s village church), and Lyn took time abroad to run a bar in Spain.
But The Old Bull has won a special place in their hearts.
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“I think the pub is really quite inspiring and unique,” said Lyn.
“It has lots of charm and character.
“For me, the highlight of the last six years has been meeting the locals. We’ve got some lovely villagers and we have people coming in regularly from the tennis club or coming in after a shoot.
“But I’ve also really enjoyed meeting all the tourists that come here. We have lots of people visiting us just for our attachment to The Archers.
“It’s not a huge pub – it’s a small pub that gets very busy.
“They tend to arrive expecting to see the cast behind the bar, pulling their pints, expecting the radio programme to be being played out here. We’ve had the BBC do photoshoots at the pub. It’s quite a unique place to work.”
Dating back to the 1600s, the black-and-white half-timbered building is also rumoured to have been a stop-off point for William Shakespeare, where he stayed on his way to Worcester to collect his marriage certificate.
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The building, overlooking the small village green, has flagstone floors and two open fires to keep punters warm in the winter, while the frontage is blanketed in colourful dahlias during the summer months.
Lyn said: “It’s a really special place.
“Everybody that comes here falls in love with it – and that’s exactly what happened to us when we came.
“I’ll be really sorry to go but I know it’s time.”
The pair lease the pub from Enterprise Inns and are now looking for someone to take over that lease.
Mike said: “It’s been a real joy.
“The pub brings people from far and wide – Canada, America, Japan, etc. – because of The Archers, and it’s one of the few remaining old traditional pubs left in this country.”