Charmaine & Mark McHugo

Chapters, Hay-on-Wye, United Kingdom

Being housed in a listed building—the oldest in Hay-on-Wye—means challenges in terms of what you’re allowed to change for environmental concerns. How do you deal with this to operate sustainably?

-It does make it tricky but the building has so much charm and all the locals have a story to tell us about it when they visit – those that came when it was a Sunday school or to the WI meetings that were held here.  We are powered by green renewable electricity and use energy very carefully, simple things like only having the necessary fridges and lights on, freezers are regularly defrosted, and LED lights are used throughout. Things that you can easily do at home.  We also get creative during the winter months we hang curtains in back areas and draft excluders on doors to help keep the warmth in.

What makes your workplace culture stand out?

-We’re very proud of our low staff turnover. By offering consistent shifts, good breaks, extra paid holidays, and open communication help the team feel valued. Staff meals are obviously included and when we sit down we all sit together which helps to foster relaxed conversations. Everyone is involved in business discussions and growth opportunities—from supplier visits to foraging walks and training shifts at local businesses.

How do you support the local community and economy?
-Hay-on-Wye is filled with small independent, family run businesses and most of our produce comes from the local area so in this way we are supporting the local economy. We regularly promote these businesses on social media and on our menus and they in turn support and promote us. We donate a portion of sales to a local charity, something we have done from when we first opened, our current charity is the Brecon Food Bank. All maintenance and laundry is done by local businesses rather than larger national companies. Supporting the local economy is vital—we depend on each other and in a rural setting such as Hay this is even more important.