Eden pub uses haters' comments to raise hundreds for charity

Demi and Tom took on the White Horse at Kings Meaburn and have transformed it into a place offering a regularly changing menu of dishes, containing mostly locally-sourced produce.

Tom, who trained as a chef in London after growing up in Kirkby Stephen, moved back to Cumbria and, with his partner Demi, took the project on.

The interior has been fully refurbished, Tom said, and most people have been loving the change... but some were more negative.

“The vast majority of people were loving it but there was a local minority who hated us!" he said.

“We put a post up of a picture of a squid dish we were doing that got loads of comments defending it, and a lot that said we ruined the pub.

Screenshot of the post advertising the new menu addition (Image: Meta)

Collection of comments, used to form the t-shirt design (Image: Meta)

“There are a lot of people who like it being this grotty and very cliquey pub, but a lot of people said that they wouldn’t set foot in the old place.”

Not dissuaded by the critics, Tom decided to make the most out of the situation in a creative way.

“We decided to make t-shirts out of the comments, we sold 60 and donated the profits to Eden Animal Rescue.”

The t-shirts were commissioned by the pub for a maker in Appleby called Holdy Prints, and were pre-order only, so sadly are not currently available anymore.

The t-shirts being worn (Image: White Horse/Meta)

The design printed on the t-shirts (Image: Holdy Print/White Horse/Meta)

Tom continued, defending the change: “A pub cannot get by without selling food.

“Before, it didn’t have any indoor toilets, the carpet was sticky, it was a group of six to ten locals just staring at anyone unfamiliar who came into the pub.

Pork, prune, pistachio and rabbit liver terrine with toast and pickles. (Image: White Horse)

“Now, we’ve got many people who come in regularly.”

Crème caramel and a brandy prune. (Image: White Horse)

The project raised £400 in profit, all of which went to charity... despite one of the main 'haters' wanting ten per cent of the profits for her ‘contributions’, according to Tom.

It’s not overly fancy food, just quality food, Tom said: “The menu changes every week. For example, I get about ten rabbits in, once that's gone it changes onto something else. I’m just working with local suppliers using whatever they have.

Low Howgill Shorthorn salt beef brisket with potatoes and pickles. (Image: White Horse)

“I don't just want to buy in mass-produced food, I want to use the produce people are farming around here because the quality is so high.

"It's interesting for me to cook different things, it's interesting for the customer to come in and have different options.”