The Berwick Advertiser - Thursday September 6 2001

Anne smiles through and makes The Queen laugh

Power cuts and Foot-and-Mouth hit trade, but Wooler hotelier is picking up the pieces

It has been a funny old year so far for Anne Park. As owner of the Tankerville Arms Hotel in Wooler - 'The Gateway to the Cheviots' - and about to celebrate 25 years' trading as a family concern, she experienced a five-day power cut, followed soon by cancellations because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak, and then got to meet a Government Minister, once, and The Queen, twice, who enquired kindly about the state of her business.

Anne's double encounter with The Queen came in July during the Royal visit to Northumberland. She was one of a small group of hospitality providers presented to Her Majesty in Berwick as owners of businesses that had been badly hit by foot and mouth. Later, in the afternoon, Anne met the Queen again, this time at County Hall where both were guests at a lunch given by Northumberland County Council. The Queen remembered her because of a joke Anne had made at Berwick.

Anne recalls: "She was absolutely charming and obviously very well informed about foot-and-mouth. 5he was interested in my business and I told her I ran a 17th century coaching inn. I said in the old days it would have taken her 44 hours by coach from London to reach Wooler and she laughed and said she had spent seven hours on the train getting to Berwick."
If that was undoubtedly the highlight of Anne's year, she can also remember some very low points. She is tactful enough not to mention her meeting with Michael Meacher, Minister of State for the Environment, in this category.

The year had started brightly following an excellent year in 2000, and she was prepared for an even better 12 months with bookings already coming in steadily in January. She had invested money in new beds, new matching curtains, new staff uniforms and a programme of in-house training for employees.

In February came the first major setback. Wooler was hit by a snowstorm. The Tankerville Arms was without electricity for five days. Six residents couldn't get away. There was no heating. Cooking was done on a gas range lit by candles. Locals came into the hotel looking for food. When the electricity was restored, Anne and her staff had bedrooms, public bars and dining rooms to clean, fridges and freezers to empty and then re-stock - and great piles of laundry to be tackled. That was only the start.

In late February came foot and mouth and then the phone starting ringing - not with new bookings but cancellations. Eight block bookings for walking parties were among the first to go. American tourists for June, July, August and September cancelled.

With local footpaths closed, walkers did not want to know about Wooler. All through March the cancellations poured in.There was ne respite from the gloom at Easter when the weather, but not the foot and mouth, relented. People started coming to Wooler again. But not for long. The organisers of a big motor cycle rally rang to say their meeting in July had been called off. The faint-hearted might have packed it in but Anne Park is made of sterner stuff.

Even before the Queen's visit and some sorely-needed compensation from One NorthEast for loss of trade, she made up her mind to drum up business by making greater use of the restaurant and dining rooms. She advertised Pasta and Pudding on Friday nights for £5.50 and Roast Beef and Pudding on Sunday nights at £8.50. They have proved a big success.
And her staff have been very supportive during the bleak days.

It has been a truly great local effort. The chef Ashley Fiddes, his wife Elaine, the assistant chef Monica Howie and another dozen or so staff, have made sure the much smaller number of customers this year have still been well looked after.

Anne Park knows she is lucky to have such a willing crew and she has re-launched her investment programme with new signs for the hotel, a brand new till, and a big new advertising board on the outskirts of Wooler telling motorists about the delights awaiting them at the Tankerville Arms Hotel. It boats 16 en-suite bedrooms and family rooms, Cheviot restaurant, Chillingham bistro, local beers and real ales, and a large car park.

Anne, who was a chief stewardess for British Airways before she and her family took over the hotel, knows how important it is to look after her customers. And already the bookings are coming in again for walking groups, wedding celebrations, golf parties - there are 10 excellent golf courses on both sides of the Border within easy travelling distance of Wooler - and company meetings.

The phone is starting to ring again with bookings for next year and future prospects are looking good. It may have been a funny old year in 2001 for Anne but if she can crack a joke that makes the Queen laugh, then there's hope for country house hotels even after foot and mouth.