BEF Football Team
Didn't they do well!
Palmer Flatt
Having spent many years in catering Chris Wright and Lesley Corfield decided, in mid 2009, to leave industrial West Yorkshire for a calmer life in the Dales. They moved to Aysgarth where they took on the management of the successful 12 bed room Palmer Flatt Hotel and pub, adjacent to the famous Aysgarth Falls.
In late 2009 the landlord of the hotel decided to move on and Chris and Lesley jumped at the opportunity of taking on the tenancy. Having raised the necessary funding from BEF they took over as landlords in October 2009, with a structured plan for redeveloping and redecorating the premises ready for the 2010 season.
Then came the worst winter for many years which cut the pub off and decimated their Christmas trade and completely wiped out the New Year trade on which they were dependant to set the business off on a strong footing.
It was not until late February that things returned to normal, this did however mean that all the plans for refurbishment were put on hold because of the lack of income to cover normal running costs. The flexibility of The BEF fund did mean that the couple were able to renegotiate their finance deal without any penalties and at a level sufficient to see them through the bad times and complete the most urgent refurbishments.
Spring has now returned to Aysgarth with the influx of tourists which will now rise weekly and bring the business back up to it’s original projections. Chris and Lesley are now looking forward to a successful summer season and whilst they will not achieve all that they hoped for in their first year, the flexibility of BEF has enabled them to survive the bad winter and be in a position to build the business back to its full potential.
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