A woman bought a Yorkshire pub despite never having setting foot in one before in 'a massive gamble' to give her children a 'better life'. Susan Beesley, 48, runs The Aldwark Arms, in Aldwark, a small village between Boroughbridge and Easingwold, in the Vale of York, known for having the one of the only privately owned toll bridges in the country . Hailing from Johannesburg, in South Africa, Susan had never been inside a pub before.
She bought the pub with her partner Warren Taylor after growing sick and tired of the high levels of crime in South Africa. Read more: Leeds coma survivor competed in bodybuilding event just 12 days after waking up Susan said: “It's a massive gamble we took. We sold up everything we owned in our lives and we came here.
Maybe we watch too many movies, it sounds lovely owning a beautiful country pub in the middle of England. We thought it sounded lovely. I don’t think either of us realised the workload.
I had never been in a pub before. “In South Africa, it’s very different. You might have restaurants or a sports bar but its not a massive thing.
People generally go to people’s houses. It was a new culture to us completely.” The couple have run The Aldwark Arms since May 2021, after purchasing the premises in January 2020, just before Covid hit.
They moved to Yorkshire with Susan’s two children, 24 and 21, who help behind the bar, and their eight-year-old daughter. Susan said: "Another reason to come over was for our children, to give t.