Since taking over The Three Horseshoes in 2023, Mike Dove and Tommy Higgs have built a reputation for doing things differently.

Operating from one of Witney’s oldest pubs, the pair have combined community fundraising, unusual events and a fiercely independent approach to create a business that stands out in a crowded market.

Fresh from winning the BII’s Licensee of the Year award in 2025 and joining The Pub Show as ambassadors, they sat down with Marketing Executive Lexi Seager to discuss originality, community and the future of the pub trade.

For many operators, the challenge is finding ways to stand out without losing sight of what makes a pub a pub. For Mike Dove and Tommy Higgs of The Three Horseshoes in Witney, the answer has never been about chasing trends or copying competitors.

“We set out from day one that we wanted to be a little bit different,” the pair say. “We wanted to be a little bit quirky, not conform, and not copy other places.” Three years on, that philosophy runs through almost every part of the business.

The Three Horseshoes still delivers the core elements customers expect from a great local pub – quality food, drinks and hospitality – but it packages them in a way that feels distinctive.

“Customers need to come in and have a great experience, whatever they're doing,” they say. “Whether they're just coming for a quick pint, dinner, or an event, if they feel like it's different, original and a bit quirky, then they enjoy it.”

That thinking extends to the pub’s events programme. Rather than relying on familiar formats, Dove and Higgs have focused on creating experiences customers cannot easily find elsewhere.

Reggae roasts and memorable experiences

One of the most successful examples is their Rocksteady Roasts, which combine Sunday lunch with a soundtrack provided by renowned DJ ‘Count Skylarkin’.

“When we first put the idea out that we were doing this for Sunday roasts, we had a lot of people saying, ‘A reggae DJ at a Sunday roast, really?’” they say.

The concept has since become one of the pub’s biggest draws, increasing Sunday covers significantly whenever the event runs. The lesson for other operators is not necessarily to copy the idea, but to find something that reflects their own venue and audience.

“There are only so many things you can do, but we’ll repackage things and make them sound different,” they say. “Essentially, it might be the same offer, it might be the same event, but it will look and sound very, very different.”

Creating memorable experiences has become increasingly important as customer habits continue to evolve. With disposable income under pressure, operators are having to work harder to justify a visit.

“People don’t have an abundance of leftover money to come out every single night and enjoy a meal,” they say. “But if it is an experience, they’ll remember that experience and you’d hope they would come a little more often.”

Cross-training and protecting staff hours

Like most operators, Dove and Higgs are balancing those changing consumer behaviours against rising operating costs. Their approach has been to protect service standards at all costs.

“One of the big things is that we’ve got a really, really loyal staff base,” they say. “We’ve still got probably 70–80% of our staff from when we started.”

Rather than reducing staffing levels in a way that could impact the guest experience, the team has focused heavily on cross-training.

“We’ve cross-trained a lot of our staff across front of house and back of house,” they explain. “It saves a lot of money because we will not weaken that customer experience by dropping hours just to save a little bit of money, so cross training staff has been a major change for us being more cost effective as a business”

That experience has also shaped the advice they would give to anyone entering the trade for the first time. “Be brave,” they say. “Wherever possible from day one, look at all your operating costs.”

At the same time, they believe operators need to stay true to their original vision rather than constantly changing direction. “If you’ve got a vision for how you want your pub to operate, stick with it,” they say.

“If it doesn’t work after a month, don’t panic. Keep going because things don’t change overnight.”

Sitting at the heart of the community

For Dove and Higgs, community sits at the centre of that vision. While The Three Horseshoes is not community-owned, they see the venue as a hub for local people, charities and causes.

“We’re not owned by the community, but we’re here for the community,” they say.

That commitment is reflected in everything from fundraising initiatives and support for local food banks to an open-door approach that treats every customer the same.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re coming in for a cup of coffee or a £200 meal, you’re getting the same experience either way.”

The pair are particularly passionate about the role pubs play beyond simply serving food and drink.

“It sounds a little bit cheesy, but we’ve always said that pubs don’t work without communities, and communities don’t work without pubs,” they say. “They work hand in hand.”

Over the past three years, some of their proudest moments have come from creating opportunities that customers would not normally associate with a local pub. The Three Horseshoes has hosted charity sports dinners, celebrity Q&As and fundraising events that have generated tens of thousands of pounds for good causes. One particularly memorable occasion saw the pair conduct a vow renewal ceremony for two regular customers after becoming ordained online specifically for the event.

“Again, it was about being able to do something that would normally happen in a registry office or a church and bring it into our little pub,” they say. For Dove and Higgs, those experiences demonstrate exactly why pubs matter.

“Memories are created in pubs,” they say. “We help create those moments for people, and that’s incredibly important.”

That belief also informs their concerns about the future of the trade.

A testing time for the pub sector

Although The Three Horseshoes continues to perform strongly, the pair are acutely aware that many independents are operating under significant pressure. “If we’re finding it tough when we are a very busy pub, then it is scary to think what pubs that don’t have the footfall we do are going through.”

“We’ve hit that ceiling where we can cut costs and save money by being smart and thinking carefully about what we’re doing. We and all other pubs need that help from the Government now.”

Their concern is not just for pubs themselves, but for the wider network of businesses that depend on them.

“The other thing is that it’s not just about pubs,” they say. “ It’s about the suppliers we use. It’s about cleaners. It’s about all the businesses connected to us.”

They also highlight the role pubs play in creating employment opportunities, particularly for younger people entering the workforce.

“If you’ve got a good attitude, can talk to people, can smile and are willing to work hard, you’ve got an opportunity.”

It is that passion for the sector that led them to become ambassadors for The Pub Show following their Licensee of the Year success.

“We said that if we had a degree of a voice for pubs over the next 12 months, we wanted to use it to affect some sort of change,” they say. For operators facing many of the same challenges, their message is ultimately a simple one: know your business, stay true to your vision and never underestimate the importance of community.

“Every single thing we do is about community,” they say. “To us, community is everything.”

Find out more about The Three Horseshoes at threehorseshoeswitney.co.uk.