An Interview with Deborah Hardy – The Granby Arms Landlady

The following transcript is the first instalment in a series of short interviews with Saddleworth business owners. The series aims to record a candid oral history of some of the area’s best-loved pubs, shops, cafes and restaurants in the words of the owners themselves, delving into their personal stories and motivations while shedding light on the important, often overlooked roles they play within our community.

Kicking us off is Deborah Hardy, the stalwart landlady of the Granby Arms. A controversial figure to some, a local legend to others, an undisputed veteran of Uppermill High Street and a passionate community figure. Along with her husband and fellow landlord, Jaimie Hardy (and daughter, Jess), she took over the iconic, ‘Granby Arms’ in 2006…

Debbie: I took over the Granby on the 20^th of February 2006, and I know that because it was my birthday. It just happened to be my birthday.

Why did you decide to take over?

Well, I pulled my first pint in one of my friend’s pubs when I was sixteen, and I was just hooked with the whole thing. We were in the back room because the pubs closed at three in the afternoon on Sunday’s then, but they still had people in the ‘taprooms’, so my friends mum said, ’Right, you two, get behind the bar and pour some drinks,’ and from then I was hooked. I just loved it. And I’ve worked in pubs ever since.

What do you think you loved about it?

I just love meeting different people from all walks of life. It fascinates me. You get all genres, all ages, and I just want to embrace them all. One thing you don’t do is judge people, in this job, you can’t judge people because you’ll be very much surprised. So I don’t judge, and I just watch to see what they’re like, and I’ll go over and introduce myself and chat with them. And I love to meet all ages, but the youngens are my favourite.

Why’s that?

Because they’ve not got any bad habits; they’re not just trying to dominate the pub; not just trying to – you know – “It’s my pub.”  Because you get a lot of that from the older ones: “This is my pub.” No, actually, it’s not. It’s my pub. And I like to teach them (the youngens) that sort of respect. I go over to introduce myself, tell them that I’m here. Any problems, come and see me. I go over and introduce myself and give them a few rules, the number one rule being to respect themselves, because if they don’t respect themselves, who’s going to respect them? So that’s the first point I put across.

Then I just tell them, if they spill it – give me a shout; if they smash it – give me a shout. Just rules, basically. That’s what I love about the new ones coming in: once you go over and show them that respect, they give you that respect back. I think that’s an important thing about being a landlady and having new people coming into the pub, that you introduce yourself and show them you’re a person. I find that 99% of the time people give me and the bar staff lots of respect because I’ve given it to them first. That’s one of the main things I love about being a landlady.

Did you have an understanding of what being a landlady entailed before you took over the pub?

Yes, I think I already had an understanding. In the pubs I used to work in, the landlady’s taught me those same principles of respect. Especially at The Commercial – with Anne and Pete. I used to watch Anne a lot. I learnt from her that you need to be very strong in this business.

You’ve got to be strong-minded, and you’ve got to have certain rules in your head, and you’ve got to be prepared to go up to someone and say, “look, this is unacceptable. You can’t be doing this.” Even though I’m only 5’3’, you’ve got to have the strength to do that. You’ve got to have the strength not to back down and also to keep your calm whilst you’re not backing down. You’ve got to have that authority because once someone steps over that line with you and gets away with it, you’re finished. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, but you’ve got to do it. Having a mouth and using it doesn’t hurt, either.
I’m also a people watcher, so I always used to watch and learn from what the landlords and landladies did in any pub I was in. I’d always watch how they treated the staff. That’s another key point of being a landlady: You’ve got to watch your staff and you’ve got to back them up. That is an important thing. I know they say the customers are always right, but they’re not always right, especially in this environment. You get problems when people are drunk, inevitably there are arguments, so you’ve really got to assess the situation and find out what’s gone wrong, but always back your staff up.

You have to be ready for anything in this industry. You never know what’s going to come through that door from one day to the next. You could have someone come in who has mental health issues. I’ve had a couple of incidents where I’ve had to save someone’s life, or someone’s fallen over or been in a fight and they’ve got cuts. I’ve done first aid training, and on more than one occasion I’ve had to patch people up.

You’ve got to be able to talk to these people, especially young men, who might be feeling down or lost because in this environment they’ll sometimes come to you with their problems and you have to be there for them when they do. I say to them, come and talk to me, and I’ll listen. Nobody will know that you’ve come to talk to me, but just come and talk to me, it doesn’t matter what time of day or night. I want to get that out there. I’ve had quite a few talks with people over the years, and I always say thank you for coming to talk to me. These are the sorts of things you must have an understanding of before you become a landlady. You must be prepared for things you wouldn’t expect.

Was it always your plan then, to take over a pub?

I’ve always wanted to have my own pub since I pulled that first pint at sixteen, and when I finally got the Granby, I was like, ‘oh my god I’ve got my dream, It’s mine. I can do what I want with it.’ And the plan from there was to just go with it. But I only ever wanted to run a pub if it was in our local area, because I’ve lived here for thirty-four years and my husband has lived here – in Uppermill – all his life, so we know a lot of the people here, which helps. It would have been a bit strange if I’d have got a pub somewhere that I didn’t live. It was always my plan to take over a pub in Saddleworth.

Because you’ve lived locally for so long, have you learnt anything about the history of the Granby? For example, what the origins of the name are?

The building was built in 1831 and it was an alehouse, and I think it was called The Dog & Partridge Alehouse. Then it ended up being called the Queen of Madelaine, but I don’t know why that happened. But the full history of the current name – why it became the Granby Arms – is because there was once a Marquess of Granby, and he was the son of the third Duke of Rutland. He was in the army but he died before his father so they couldn’t call him a duke, they called him, ‘The Marquess’, instead. He was the first man to introduce the colour blue into the army uniform. His actual name was John Manners and before he died, he dished out a lot of his money to his soldiers so a lot of them went and opened pubs called the Marquess of Granby all over the country. That’s where the pub’s name comes from – in his honour. But when I took over, the sign outside just had three ducks on it, from the previous owners, so I did my own research and found out who John Manners was and got him put up on the sign, with the background painted in the same blue he introduced to the uniform.

Interesting. Moving onto more recent history: What changes have you seen on Uppermill High Street since you took over in 2006?

One of the positive changes I’ve seen would be more people. The High Street is bustling with people now, which is lovely to see because the businesses are flourishing. Which in turn is good for the community.

The business owners know each other, and we try to support one another, which is a brilliant thing. There’s a stronger sense of community in the village.
There have been changes that were out of our control, like covid and the floods a few years ago. But everyone has banded together. For example, when Smithy (Andrew Smith) was doing meals for the homeless – who struggled particularly in the lockdowns – up at Dinnerstones. I went next door to peel vegetables so we could bring them a load of meals, as did many others. It was great to see the community come together in that way. It was similar to when there were floods. The things people donated were amazing. I think these things have made our community stronger.

Any negative changes?

Well, I don’t want to be negative, but there are bigger problems in certain areas than there used to be. The same problems every village and every town in the country are having, and that problem is drugs. Which, unfortunately, are a very difficult thing to prevent.
Another negative change, for me, in terms of pubs, would be the decline in pub games, like cards and dominos. They seem to have gone, which is a shame. We still have a darts league and a pool league and a poker team, but the old games that my grandad used to play have gone. I think that’s sad and it would be nice to see them come back, but I never think that will happen.
You’ve got to stay positive though because covid can really get you down. In the first lockdown, I was quite sad about not being able to do what it’s my instinct to do – be a landlady. I wouldn’t say depressed, but I got down quite a few times. At the very start, it was great, I think it was the first time I’d had my pyjamas on by 10 pm in about fourteen years! But after that, no, I didn’t like it. I’m a people person. I like to be around people. Not for attention, but I just love being in the midst of it all. That’s just me. So, I had to stay positive, like everyone else, and have faith that our community and country will come out the other side, which will hopefully happen soon.

What are your plans for the future, after you’ve left the pub?

I think, out of all your questions, that’s going to be the hardest one to answer because I just don’t know. But It will definitely be something within the community. I’m going to volunteer, maybe at a women’s centre or youth centre. I have worked at youth centres before. I used to volunteer at the Bangladesh youth centre in Werneth a few times a week. I actually applied to the police before I took over the Granby as well, but I wouldn’t go back to that now. I also worked in a factory, pushing a button every day to make a machine work. It was horrible. I wouldn’t go back to that, either.

I’ve always worked in pubs, from the Commercial to the Hare & Hounds to the Cloggers, right up until I took over this place from Billy O’Reilly all those years ago. But to answer your question, honestly, other than volunteering, I really don’t know what my plan is after I leave The Granby. Maybe, someday, I’d like a quiet cottage somewhere that has a garden with the sun shining on it… but at the moment, I can’t see myself not having the pub.

Finally, what’s one of the most memorable moments you’ve had in the pub?

I’ve got so many beautiful memories, so many fabulous moments, but the most memorable moment – and it’s not just a memory, it’s an achievement – is when I started the ‘Save Our Soldiers’ campaign.
My son was in the army and he got drafted out to Iraq, and while he was there we sent parcels over, and it was always cheese and onion crisps and things like that. So, we’d send these two-kilogram parcels over, but one day my son phoned me up and told me, “Mum, I actually don’t need anything, but we’ve got a lot of soldiers out here that don’t have family.” And I was like, ‘wow’. So then I set up, Save our Soldiers, and just asked people to donate things I could send to these soldiers who don’t have families, like food and toiletries. The response from the community was unbelievable, from the churches, the schools, the nurseries…everyone. It was unbelievable. It just brought the community together. There was even one lady, obviously from farming stock, who came in on a freezing November night, hair blown all over and face red with the wind, carrying this trolley, and she pulled out these five pairs of big thick socks that she’d hand-knitted herself. In the desert, it gets cold at night, so it was brilliant. Then she pulled out a big bottle of gin and I said, ‘we can’t send that, so she said, ‘well, sell it and use the money to buy them something else.’ I’ll always remember that lady.

I also managed to get the postal charges scrapped, because it used to cost £7.25 to send packages abroad to soldiers. I wrote to the local MP’s, who weren’t interested, so I started phoning everyone up and causing a fuss, and I ended up on Granada reports. My point was, I could afford to send some parcels but there were poor grandmas and grandads, partners and kids who maybe couldn’t afford to send anything to their loved ones. It took quite a while, but after the interview with Granada reports, I got a phone call from the post office to say they’d scrapped all postal charges for serving soldiers abroad, and we ended up sending about seven and a half thousand parcels out to them. So that was my biggest, most memorable achievement while I’ve been at the pub.

That’s the best thing about being a part of this community: being able to do things like that and knowing you’ll get the support and help you need to make a difference.

I think that’s a brilliant note to end on. Thank you.

Thank you.

If you enjoyed reading this interview, please follow our page on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, and stay tuned for the next instalment. If nothing else, this is an opportunity for the local businesses we love to gain some valuable exposure, and a chance to get to know the vibrant array of characters at the heart of our local community.

Stay safe,
Patrick Bell

Author: Patrick Bell

Drawing stories from the people, communities, history, and wildlife of our local area. Weaving all into a landscape we know and love as home.