A pub owner from High Wycombe says the continued success of her boozer feels too good to be true at a time when many others are buckling under economic strain.

Bonnie Martin, 48, had the idea to take over The Three Horseshoes in Hazlemere after the previous landlord stepped down in 2019 – an instinct that came as a surprise even to herself, with the stint she’d worked behind the pub’s bar being the extent of her hospitality background.

The mother-of-one was juggling three jobs including sales executive to take care of her son, now 19, when she took on the challenge.

Fast forward five years and The Three Horseshoes has been named a finalist in the Publican of the Year Awards and is preparing to unveil a large-scale refurbishment next week – just some of the ways the sports and wet pub has thrived under Bonnie’s helm.

Bonnie (far right) and two staff members (Image: Bonnie Martin)

The refurb, centred around smartening up the inside and outside of the establishment, will be celebrated with a bang on August 30, with Bonnie inviting regulars and new customers to raise a glass to its sort-of-new look – think fresh paint, a new bottle bar and redesigned frontage.

The decision to keep it a drinks-only boozer could be a factor in its success, Bonnie suggests, but a larger one is the support of local clientele and scattered renovation projects including heated cabins with TV screens and a spruced-up beer garden, some of which the 48-year-old installed during the enforced downtime of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Image: Bonnie Martin)

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Being Hazlemere’s only non-food-serving pub also has the perks of centring itself around a pool table and AstroTurf and hosting casual drinks and get-togethers in a way its counterparts might struggle to.

Whatever the formula, Bonnie feels she has “cheated somehow”, such has been the near-seamless ascent in its popularity but is quick to add that most people don’t realise all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes of a hospitality business.

(Image: Bonnie Martin)

She said: “My son was only 14 when we opened, and I’ve always wanted to be hands-on and get involved across the board. It was definitely tough at points – I wasn’t prepared for how hard running a business would be.

“People think it’s just pulling pints, but there’s so much more you have to think about. I think the key is having a really great team of staff. This award recognition is really down to them.

“They’re great at keeping people happy and smiling – I’m grateful it can be a place where people come to be together and forget the world for a minute.”