Page 27 - Oundle Life July 2021

of customers, it’s the great team I’m constantly assisted, amused and kept youthful by.
Who inspires you? I find myself inspired
by anyone creative, I work systematically and
to a template I understand, and can replicate wherever I am. All the quirky, artistic touches that the pub looks so good for, are other people’s suggestions (that I probably fought against when originally suggested).
What makes The Montagu Arms so special?
Easy – everyone who comes here and everyone who works here. This pub has never had a clique, teenagers will drink with and listen to the wisdom of octogenarians, millionaires will stand their rounds with farm hands, even dog people will occasionally suffer conversations about people’s cats.
What’s the best dish on your menu? Not that
simple I’m afraid. At lunchtime it would be the burger with Stilton, early evening supper the crab and prawn crab cakes on Thai salad and then for dinner, definitely the lamb shank in minted gravy, mash and peas.
Any ambitions? My ambition is simply to make a The Monty the best she can be.
What did you want to be when you were growing up? Older – and what do I want to be now? Younger! Not that I envy the under 25s – the hills they’ve got to climb.
You have a day off, what do you do? If I
can steal an overnighter, Lisa and I love York
– breakfast at The Ivy, lunch at Mannion & Co then dinner at Delrio’s. Punctuated with lots of watering holes and hopefully a snooze.
For more information and how to book a table visit: www.montaguarmsbarnwell.co.uk
27