The Devil's Stone Inn

Suzy and Lee met 15 years ago when they both worked in the City of London. The couple had always dreamed of leaving the city behind and opening their own country pub.

“A little while ago we stumbled upon this place, and we fell in love with it instantly,” said Lee. “And here we are, three and a half years later.”

Suzy bought the pub in April 2021 and it was in dire need of work. Since then, it has been transformed, with the installation of a kitchen serving up locally-sourced food, as well as developing five rooms to accommodate guests and a state of the art cellar system. All the hard work has paid off, with enviable Tripadvisor reviews, a 5-star kitchen rating and a listing in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

"People love a traditional village pub and that’s exactly what they get here,” Suzy explained. “It’s lovely and cosy, and has a beautiful beer garden”

“It's a great hub for people to come and meet,” Lee said, “Everyone's welcome here.”

With no past experience running a pub, Suzy explained that she struggled to find finance to buy the pub initially, with the high-street banks especially reluctant to talk to a hospitality business. “I had no option but to go down the bridging finance route, which was super expensive."

Two years later, however, she met Matt West, an Allica Bank relationship manager. They talked about the possibility of refinancing Suzy’s bridging loan onto a commercial mortgage with Allica Bank. “I really liked Allica’s ethos about supporting small businesses. I felt that they would be the perfect fit for us. They feel modern and fresh, and much more approachable than the mainstream banks.”

By walking Suzy through the application, Matt was able to help Suzy refinance her bridging loan, saving her £1,000 a month in repayments. What’s more, while the bridging loan was an interest-only loan, their new mortgage repayments with Allica Bank will also be paying off capital.

Talking about the process, Matt said, “The fact that they were dealing with a real life person hopefully made that transition and that process a lot smoother than if they had been dealing with a faceless bank.”

While Suzy commented, “Working with Matt’s been an absolute godsend. It's so refreshing to have somebody that takes an interest in the business and who takes the time out to actually come here and visit the premises. It's a really refreshing approach to modern day banking.”

“And the support doesn't stop as soon as the deal is signed. Matt’s put us in touch with other people in similar situations at networking events, helping us grow our own network.”