Caldicot landlord who turned pub into grocery store plans shop

In December, following news that pubs would need to close until at least before Christmas, landlord at The Measure Inn Rob Steed turned his boozer into a fruit and veg store in less than a week.

Mr Steed, who also owns The Lamb in Newport, employs 12 staff and said he needed to do something quickly to save jobs.

“We hoped it would be something positive for the community and went down really well,” he said.

“We had loads of orders up to Christmas and it worked.”

After questions were asked over whether Mr Steed had applied for a change of use for the building before starting the store, he stopped the temporary store and began talks to take over his own shop instead.

He is planning on being on the high street by March, which he hopes will generate some much-needed cash for the pub and add to the town.

Newport Road – the main high street in Caldicot – recently lost its popular Waitrose store adding to a host of closures in recent years which has left the town looking desolate.

Last week Mr Steed restarted deliveries to homes as far as Langstone and Chepstow, but he says he’s been disappointed by a lack of takeaway orders.

“We’re trying hard and at the moment the deliveries are the only thing keeping us going,” he said. “It’s so important people continue to help us out by ordering from us if they can.

“On Friday, Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday we had 15 orders altogether. We’d hope to get 15 orders in a day at least.”

Asked what the outlook was for his pubs at the moment, he said: “It’s looking difficult but it’s so uncertain too. We’ve not had any funding recently and we’ve received no contact from local authorities on plans moving forward.

“It would be heart-breaking to lose the pubs. I’ve worked for 12 years to get where we are now. We’re just trying to do everything we can to get to the other side.”

The Measure Inn is open for deliveries between 4pm and 8pm from Tuesday to Saturday. To order ring 01291422876.