English couple turn Birkdale business around in under a year

Tracy and Martin Robson moved to the Redlands from England in 2005 and in July of 2021 they bought into Craft Brew House at Birkdale, which they run on top of their respective full-time jobs.

The business had barely scraped through COVID lockdowns and restrictions and The Robson's purchase was the last chance to bring it back to life.

"Last year my husband decided to have a midlife crisis and we ended up being in a position where we bought into this bar," Ms Robson said.

"We had a vision for what this place was going to be. We wanted a community where everybody knows us as the owners and it's a really friendly community."

The Robsons created an English style pub like those they loved back home and have turned the venue into a bar that supports local businesses, suppliers and artists.

Mr Robson said it had not been easy but was always enjoyable, particularly with their loyal crowd of regular customers.

"When we're when we're not working we are here, whether it be Friday, Saturday or Sunday. We still come in to socialise with out regulars and buy them drinks and we have this really friendly feel," he said.

An important part of the pub's atmosphere is the live music and the Robsons have established a roster of Redland artists to showcase three times a week.

"Anybody can play Spotify but you just can't beat live music, especially if you've got a good band on and we have a pretty new band that started playing here on Saturdays and they've only ever played here," Mr Robson said.

"We found out a couple of our regulars sing so we told them to give it a go here and everyone who has done it has been good."

Ms Robson said she and her husband had big dreams to expand the pub but were starting small as they continued getting the business back up and running.

"We gave ourselves two years to try and put our names on the map and we've done it in a year," she said.

"There's quite a special sort of vibe in here, I can never quite put my finger on it. People say it's us but I think it's more than that.

"We've talked about many things. We're not sure we're actually really happy about things are going at the end of the day."