It gives us great pleasure to announce that we have reached a rather special milestone for our family business – Anglian Country Inns is celebrating its 30th birthday! In a world where new hospitality places open and shut with frightening speed, this landmark is something we are incredibly proud of. It has been quite the journey, some giddy highs and a fair share of challenges too, and through it all we have tried to stay true to our mission of making people happy and our values, day in and day out, thanks to our brilliant team.
It all started back in 1996 when Dad bought a run-down little pub on the north Norfolk coast called The Lobster Pot, with the main aim of bringing people together over great food and having a bit of fun. We spent that warm summer as a family (and with the help of some friends) renovating the pub, bringing back the original name and finally opening the doors for the first time in October as The White Horse, with mussels and oysters from the village on the menu.
Thirty years later, The White Horse is thriving, and we have curated a beautiful collection of 10 award-winning, independent pubs and restaurants with great hospitality at the heart of them, all part of the ACI family. The menus are still unique to each site with fresh shellfish from Brancaster still featuring alongside some of the best local and regional produce. We are so grateful for all the recognition we have received over the years including high praise from The Good Food Guide, Top 50 Gastropubs, The Michelin Guide, AA Rosettes, as well as acknowledgement for looking after our teams in the form of Best Employer and Happiest Place to Work in Hospitality. This all means the world to us, as we believe in doing things right, not cutting corners, treating our team like family and building a sustainable business. Someone once said your values mean nothing until they cost you something and that really struck a chord with us. It has guided us to build a culture that has endured and a string foundation for the future.
People have always been at the core of everything we’ve done. Dad has always had a knack of attracting good people – he taught us to treat them like family which has made a huge difference over the years. We have been fortunate to work with some of the best and we couldn’t be prouder of our amazing teams. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped build the business over the last three decades and make so many people happy. Cheers to you all!
We will be having a few celebrations over the next couple of months, raising a glass or two and some special surprises planned too – more on that to follow. There will be a special menu for November with a nod to our 1996 roots. But none of this would have been possible without you, our wonderful guests, who have been right at the heart of our success. It has been our greatest privilege to get to know you, to look after you and so a huge thank you for supporting us throughout the last thirty years.
Happy birthday and look forward to seeing you again soon,
James, Howard and the family
