Publican Murrie Venis is celebrating 20 years at the helm of the Green Tree pub in Tudhoe.
Murrie met her husband James at the Punch owned pub in 2008, two years after she took the reins alongside her parents Paul and Lynda.
The couple, Murrie’s parents and their two children all reside at the pub in what has become a true family affair. “Dad is an engineer by trade, so he was very hands on around the pub in the early days while mum has always been the life and soul,” said Murrie. “There have been times over the years where I might have thought about moving on but we’ve created such history here that I don’t know if I could tear myself away.
It hasn’t always been plain sailing for the family though. When Murrie first arrived, she had a lot of convincing to do. “The locals were very curious about me at first, they must have been wondering ‘what is this woman going to do to my pub’,” says Murrie. “Those were obviously different times but in due course I managed to win them over and now I am as local as any of them.”
Murrie believes the 20 years she has served makes her the longest-serving publican in the pubs near 300-year history. “I’ve checked the records and it looks like I may hold that title,” said Murrie. “I absolutely adore this pub; I love everything about it from the people to the building itself and I’m not the only one because we have three staff members that have been with us since the day I joined!”
Murrie continued: “it’s rare to find that level of loyalty these days. To run a pub for this long it takes a massive amount of effort to stay current, remain profitable and retain staff and we’ve done that by listening to our customers and staff over the years and brought them along on our journey.”
Murrie and James celebrated the milestone with a party in the pub garden to raise money for Spennymoor Youth Band, to go along with the thousands raised for other local causes over the years. The pub has also led on the fundraising of a community defibrillator and phone box library.
Rob Summers, Operations Manager at Punch Pubs, said: “A huge congratulations to Murrie and her family for achieving such longevity at the Green Tree. Knowing Murrie like I do, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her celebrating her 40th anniversary in another 20.”
More information about the pub can be found on the Green Tree website and social media pages.