Big congratulations to Marston’s franchisees Simon English and Hayley Straw, who scooped an Erewash in Bloom award last month for their green-fingered efforts at the Tappers Harker pub in Long Eaton.

The Erewash in Bloom competition is the flagship project of Erewash Borough Council’s Pride in Erewash campaign and featured a range of categories, from best front and back gardens through to best business display and school garden.

Simon and Hayley were nominated as finalists in the best business display category after receiving three separate mystery shopper visits from the judging team, which included representatives from West Hallam Gardening Club and Long Eaton District Horticultural Society. The Mayor of Erewash - Councillor Val Clare presented the ceremony, and Simon and Hayley were pleased to receive a coveted ‘highly commended’ award for their attractive, all weather pub garden.

Simon and Hayley took the Tappers Harker on under a 5 year franchise term back in October 2012 and have since invested just over £5,000 into getting the garden and other external areas looking great for the local community, in addition to a £60,000 refurbishment by Marston’s to the pub’s internal areas. 

Simon commented: “We are really proud of what we’ve achieved at the Tappers Harker to date – we completed the improvements to the external areas in May this year and have had our best ever summer, the garden was packed and we had around a 20% uplift in sales! We’ll be entering the Erewash in Bloom competition again next year and are determined to win next time round. We don’t have commercial gardeners, all of what you see is our own hard work so we’re hoping it pays off!”

Next summer will be a particularly busy one for the pub as the World Cup comes around once again. “We have some exciting further improvements planned for the garden including an outdoor bar and TV. We want the Tappers Harker to be the perfect place for our customers to relax and watch the matches in the sunshine and we know the new additions will go down a treat!” added Simon.