Opportunity to run fantastic community pub in Henley
September 10, 2024
Landlord of The Three Horseshoes set to retire after 25 years
Nigel & Julie Rainbow outside The Three Horsehoes in Henley
“It’s the kind of pub I’d like to live next door to,” says Nigel Rainbow, landlord of The Three Horseshoes in Henley, the Brakspear pub that he and wife Julie are preparing to retire from after 25 years at the helm. “My mum could come in for a glass of wine with a friend, the older gents enjoy their pint and a chat and the 18+ crowd play darts or pool.
“There’s great beer and tasty food of course, but it’s really about the atmosphere: everyone feels welcomed and safe. It’s the essence of what a great community pub should be.”
Originally from Coventry, Nigel trained there as a chef – at the aptly named Henley College – and then worked in hotels in Germany. Back in the UK, he started working in bars and pubs, becoming manager at The Dog & Fox in Wimbledon and then in Laleham near Staines, where he met Julie, and also witnessed the power of Brakspear beers! He says: “Whenever we put a cask of Brakspear ale on the bar, it sold out almost straight away.”
Fast forward to August 1999 and Nigel and Julie, now married with two small children, took on The Three Horseshoes in Henley. The traditional pub was exactly what they wanted: slightly out of the town centre, on the fork of the Reading Road and Harpsden Road and surrounded by housing – meaning lots of potential customers.
Talented chef and assistant manager in place
One of Nigel’s first tasks was to create a food offer from scratch, drawing on his culinary skills to produce tasty, freshly-made pub classics. Today, food accounts for 30% of the pub’s sales and is managed by Tim Butler, the talented chef who joined the business six years ago. “Hiring Tim was one of my smartest moves,” says Nigel. “He does a great job with our mainstay of pub favourites, but he also innovates to refresh the menu regularly.” The food helped The Three Horseshoes to hold the No.1 spot in Henley on Tripadvisor for some years and it is among the top 10% in the world for the quality of its reviews.
Tim, along with assistant manager Graham Hughes, who previously ran The Bottle & Glass, will be staying at the pub after Nigel’s retirement – so whoever takes on the pub will benefit from two pairs of very experienced hands.
The Three Horseshoes team (l-r): Nigel Rainbow, assistant manager Graham Hughes, chef Tim Butler
The other 70% of revenue comes from drinks with Birra Moretti and Brakspear Gravity firm favourites. It is one of the pubs on the Henley Ale Trail and on a busy weekend more than 100 ‘trailers’ come in for a pint and a stamp on their collector card. Nigel has also built relationships with groups near and far, offering refreshments for the local squash team and rowing teams from Yale and Harvard Universities and the US Air Force.
Community values
Nigel’s care for the people who use the pub is always evident. He keeps a watchful eye on elderly regulars, delivering meals when they’re bedridden and phoning relatives if they don’t come in for a few days. Over the years, he has started a monthly Pub Quiz which always books out, and a number of groups that cater to customers’ interests, including a book club and a deep sea fishing group.
He adds: “If you want to see what The Three Horseshoes is all about, come in on Christmas Day. We open at midday and by quarter-past, we’re five deep at the bar, with multi-generation family groups including small kids on their new bikes! It’s non-stop til we close at 2.00.”
The same community spirit came to the fore during Covid. When pubs were forced to close, Nigel admits he was ‘heartbroken’, but within days had started delivering food for Tesco, while also preparing takeaway meals from the pub every evening. He says: “I love my job, and I think that’s why I have so much energy for it – though I am looking forward to slowing down a bit in retirement.
“That would be my advice to anyone thinking about taking on the pub: if you love it, it won’t feel like work, but if you don’t, it’ll feel like a slog!”
Nigel with customers
He adds: “Julie and I raised our three children in the flat above the pub and it suited us perfectly, with three large bedrooms and plenty of living space. And it’s handy being close to the town centre.” While Nigel concentrated on running the pub, Julie helped behind the scenes with paperwork, and on creating the stunning hanging baskets and window boxes which decorate The Three Horseshoes and won it Henley in Bloom’s Best Pub Award in 2014.
New opportunities for the future
Leaving the pub that has been home for 25 years isn’t going to be easy, but Nigel is proud of the business he will be handing over to the next landlord or landlady. “This is a fantastic pub for the right person,” he says. “They don’t have to be experienced in running pubs, but they do need to be interested in people. Running a community pub, we stand or fall on the relationships we have with the customers around us, so we have to treat them all with genuine interest and respect and give them reasons to come back.”
He adds: “There are plenty of untapped opportunities here for whoever comes in after us. I think it’s good to look at what the big pubcos are doing and learn from that – a regular Steak Night could work well here, for example. And although we do a bit on social media, I know it could be used more effectively to develop the business.”
If you’re interested in becoming the next landlord or landlady at The Three Horseshoes, contact Gavin Mansfield at Brakspear for an informal chat. We recruit based on attitude and personality and take pride in finding the right pub for the right person. gavin@brakspear.co.uk
All photography by Richard Pereira
