Meet the owners

Meet Rich

Inspired by 1830’s beer houses, Pint Shop is famed for its hot scotch eggs, awesome drinks and seasonal British food cooked over coals. Owner Rich Holmes invites us in…

Do you have a background in hospitality?

I think it was in the blood as my Mum and Dad ran a pub in Stoke-on-Trent when I was born so I lived above a pub for the first few months of my life! I started working in hospitality when I was 14 at a café owned by my mate’s dad, then went on to work in pubs and bars throughout sixth form and university.

What lured you to Cambridge?

I was working for La Tasca and they asked if I was interested in the GM position in Cambridge. I remember driving up on a summer Sunday seeing the punts on the river, the city heaving and the parks full of people enjoying themselves and thinking ‘this is where I want to be!’ Eventually I moved on to work for Leon as Operations Manager and that’s where I met my original business partner Benny. He
was Head of Food, so we were essentially running someone else’s business and realised we could do this for ourselves. That’s when we decided to set up Pint Shop.

You opened Pint Shop in 2013 with quite a unique ethos. Do tell us more!

We wanted to open the kind of place where we’d like to eat and drink, so somewhere inspired by history but that felt relevant to today. I was reading about the beer houses in the 1830’s when beer was a rich person’s drink as it was heavily taxed and the poor drank this horrible gin made in bath tubs. The government decided to deregulate beer so people could apply for a licence and brew it in their homes. Within a couple of years there were 40,000 odd beer houses up and down the land. That resonated with me; this notion of domestic settings, a craft product made on site and taking things back to simplicity. Then we found Pint Shop’s building which dates from 1830, which was a mad and total coincidence, and thought this is it!

Your drink offering is vast! Do you still have your beers chalked up on a blackboard?

It’s exactly the same blackboard we’ve had from day one, sitting above the fireplace, offering the best of British beer. We have around 28 beers and ciders with 50 per cent of those sourced from local brewers.
At any one time, we have between 40 and 60 gins and our house variety is Cambridge Dry Gin. We love working with founder Will who made us a gin from garden peas to celebrate our opening as we are located on Peas Hill!

How would you describe your food offering?

It is simple, seasonal British food. We have a small changing menu with around 14 main courses. Some are ever-present like the burger, fish and chips, our butcher’s sausage sourced from Barker Bros in Shelford and the overnight pork belly which may be served with baked apples in the autumn and pearl barley in the summer.

What’s a perennial favourite dish with customers?

When we first opened, we put some hot scotch eggs on the bar. They became incredibly popular straight away. Customers love the fact they are hot and runny. We make them in house and typically serve anything from 400 to 700 scotch eggs a week!

It’s lovely to see so many local producers on the menu, from Stir Bakery to Hot Numbers Coffee Roasters. Is that an important aspect of the business?

Yes, it’s nice to work with likeminded local small businesses who really care. Our cheese boards come from Rennet & Rind and owner, Perry, knows more about cheese than anyone we know!

What do you love most about running Pint Shop?

The people! We’ve got about 45 team members and that’s exciting and engaging, then there’s our customers; between 2,500 and 3,000 people through the door each week. I like that we have a pub which lots of different people use for different things and everyone feels comfortable. I remember the first Saturday we were open, there was a couple having some drinks, a group of lads enjoying a few beers and
then an 80-year-old lady having a glass of wine with chips and curry sauce and I thought this is absolutely perfect; we’ve nailed it!

Pint Shop is at 10 Peas Hill, Cambridge, CB2 3PN. Visit pintshop.co.uk