For this edition of Taproom Talks, The Pub Show spoke to Eamonn England and Arina Piskunova, the husband-and-wife team behind The Windsor Castle in East Finchley and the latest winners of the BII Licensee of the Year Award. Since taking over the pub in 2022, they have transformed the neighbourhood local into a thriving community hub, earning a reputation for exceptional hospitality, strong local engagement and a relentless focus on quality.

You took on The Windsor Castle in 2022 and have transformed it into an award-winning community pub. Looking back, what were your ambitions when you first took over, and how have they evolved?

Our aim was to revive and relaunch The Windsor Castle N2 with a beautiful refurb, to attract a wide-ranging customer base and to put the pub at the heart of the community. We proudly achieved that ambition, and we now want to create further growth, and winning awards is very much part of that.

The Windsor Castle describes itself as a community local at heart. What does being a true community pub mean to you in practice?

The key to a true community pub is a warm welcome to everyone, to be inclusive without any prejudice. Our customer base is diverse and wide-ranging, we have 20-something regulars sharing tables alongside those in their 80’s, all engaged and enjoying the intergenerational company. We’ve also had evenings where the clientele inside the pub has been 90% female. We’re family friendly, we welcome and embrace the LGBTQ+ community, and we have facilities for those who are disabled. We make effort to connect with local groups, organisations and causes, supporting them to raise funds and offering our space for meetings and get togethers. The Windsor Castle is a community asset, for the community, with the community at its heart – a place that has real local value at a time when backstreet community locals are disappearing.

From quiz nights and folk sessions to creative events and local initiatives, community engagement is a big part of the pub's identity. Why is it so important to create experiences beyond food and drink?

People want more than a beer, a glass of wine, or a meal, they want events, activities, experiences, and community connection. We set out to be more than just a local to visit for a drink, we wanted to create experiences and initiatives that bring people together and foster social connections.

You place a strong emphasis on British food and drink, including seasonal menus and local produce. How do you develop an offer that feels both high quality and accessible?

The majority of our menu is made up of familiar British pub classics, but we do them well, using amazing produce which we cook and present well. The menu is varied price wise, and we ensure that it remains accessible. We also have our own organic kitchen garden, allowing us to keep certain areas of pricing at a lower level. We add in a couple of more interesting dishes in each season, allowing customers to explore if they’d like to, and try less familiar ingredients.

Great pubs are built by great teams. How do you create a culture where staff feel supported, valued and motivated to deliver excellent hospitality?

We provide a caring, nurturing and inclusive environment and take time to train our staff well, ensuring they feel valued, appreciated and respected. Through regular team meetings we help them to understand our vision and ongoing strategy so that they feel connected to what we are building and very much part of the process.

Busy service days can be stressful, so good communication is key. We work hard to ensure that everyone works together as a team, supporting one another and putting their training into action. We provide high praise when it’s due and take time to regularly check in on staff to make sure that they are feeling well and happy. We have created an open environment where our team are able to express themselves and feedback to us, both positives and negatives. This has resulted in a very low turnaround of staff, creating loyalty, commitment and passion.

Our onboarding processes are thorough and detailed. The aim being to help staff to fully understand their role, the operation, what is expected of them, and to feel informed and comfortable whilst they are at work. We work hard to instil and create a positive working environment for all. Our workplace has a true family feel, where everyone is heard, respected and equally valued.

What has been the biggest challenge you've faced since taking over the business, and what lessons has it taught you as operators?

We took over the pub in the Autumn of 2022; the final COVID restrictions had only been lifted in March of that year and the war in Ukraine was beginning to impact the costs of food and energy.

As a new start-up business, our first energy contracts (gas and electric) were estimated to be a combined £26k. We factored this huge cost into our financial planning along with realistic numbers for all our other overheads, so that we knew what to expect and were prepared for it.

The refurb of the pub, wide ranging marketing, local press coverage, and the welcoming environment, meant we hit the ground running to start with, but it was incredibly tough for the first six months. We kept a very tight rein on spending, took nothing from the business ourselves and monitored our income and spend daily, with monthly financial advice meetings to further support stability.

This really provided us with strong financial focus, and, as the business has grown, we’ve managed to build financial reserves, and we make sure supplier debts are always cleared ahead of time. In year two we were able to renegotiate all our utility costs, working with a range of brokers to find the very best deals. We continue to do this, and in year three we were able to reduce costs even further through strong brokerage.

The impact of wage increases and employer National Insurance contributions have been difficult, but we knew they were coming, and once again we did our best to prepare for them. We worked closely with our financial adviser, reshaping our P&L forecasts and business planning to factor the increases in. It hasn’t been easy, but so far, we have weathered the storm, mostly due to the savings we’ve been able to make elsewhere, especially on utilities and by switching suppliers and adapting some of our dishes. Financial resilience and planning are key to running a successful and sustainable business and we keep a close reign on all our numbers and percentages. Get that bit wrong and things will go wrong very quickly!

The Windsor Castle is often described as a hidden gem. What do you think keeps people coming back and recommending the pub to others?

‘Quality, consistency and high standards’ are central to everything we do, both FOH, in the kitchen, and in our environment. This not only ensures that all customers are provided with a wonderful experience, but it also creates loyalty and customer retention.

We go above and beyond to provide exceptional service to all customers, and the positive feedback and online reviews we receive are testament to this.

We offer customers a warm and welcoming environment, one in which they can relax, and feel comfortable and looked after. Customer recognition is also a key factor in successfully achieving this and really does bring customers back. Familiarity, trust and warmth are essential to growth, and we work hard to nail them.

We make an effort to not only remember names, but to remember life events including birthdays, personal preferences – like a regular drink choice, a straight glass for some beer drinkers, a favourite table, personal or family allergies, and the names of their children or dog.

According to our payment system, over 70% of our customers are returning customers. We know many by name and make a real effort to ensure that both us and our team remember names of both returning and regular customers.

We also know that additional footfall is mostly powered by recommendations from those customers to family and friends. The number of customers who visit due to recommendation is a constant reminder that we’re doing the right thing.

We’ve created a pub that our regulars are proud to frequent, with many in our community sighting it as a place to go with friends or family “when you want to show off your local”. We now have a core group of advocates, happy customers who promote us, bring in their friends and family, send customers our way, generally sing our praises, and tell people how much we care.

The pub industry continues to face economic and operational pressures. Where do you see the biggest opportunities for pubs that want to thrive in the years ahead?

Drinking habits are changing and we all need to be one step ahead of that. Customers are consuming less alcohol but are willing to spend more on premium, high-quality products when they go out. Developing elevated mocktails and adding a wider more interesting range craft no-and-low beers and premium soft drinks can strengthen trade. Experiences, activities and events are also becoming essential to growth, and competitive socialising at quizzes and the like can help pubs to thrive. Social value is also key to success, with genuine community connection and recognition creating local loyalty that’s hard to beat.

If another publican visited The Windsor Castle hoping to learn from your success, what is the one piece of advice or insight you would share with them?

Keep a close eye on your figures, watch your percentages, treat and pay your staff well, keep your environment clean, and make every customer feel welcome and cared for.

What did winning the BII Licensee of the Year award mean for you, your team and the wider community that has supported you on the journey?

It’s an absolute honour to be named Licensee of The Year and to be recognised by the BII for our successes, positive growth, team care, community focus, and dedication to keeping our pub alive. We couldn’t have achieved this without a great team and without such an amazing community around us, and this award is as much for them as it is for us. Everyone is thrilled to bits and the support and love we’ve received since winning has been incredible.

The Windsor Castle is a community asset, for the community, with the community at its heart – a place that has real local value at a time when backstreet community driven pubs are disappearing.

In the year ahead we will work hard to champion the importance of our sector and the need for neighbourhood pubs like ours! Thanks to the BII for the wonderful welcome they’ve given us and for the insight, training and support they’ve provided since we joined in 2022.