Inn hosts pupils and MP for tourism week

Mrs Trevelyan pulled a pint of the Bamburgh Castle Inn’s house ale, Hadrian & Border Brewery’s Farne Island Ale, and spoke to pupils from Seahouses Middle School about the importance of tourism to the local economy – and revealed her own first jobs were working in a Post Office and a branch of McDonald’s.

The Seahouses-based inn, current holder of the North East Tourism Pub of the Year title, welcomed students from Years 7 and 8 to learn about English Tourism Week and the quality and vibrancy of the inn’s visitor offer.

Mrs Trevelyan said: “It was great to meet the pupils from Seahouses Middle School on Friday.

“Tourism is so important to our area and it was great to hear from the pupils that so many are interested in careers in the industry.

“The Bamburgh Castle Inn, is a shining example of a fantastic success within the industry so it was a fitting venue.”

The Bamburgh Castle Inn general manager Nicola Austin said: “We enjoyed welcoming Mrs Trevelyan and the Seahouses Middle School children to the inn to find out more about what we do, how we do it and how important our offer is to the local economy.

“English Tourism Week was the perfect opportunity for us to invite them into the inn and to see first-hand the value tourism brings to our local economy.”

She added: “Working in businesses serving the needs of the tourist economy will be the first taste of employment for many young people in Seahouses and the surrounding area, when they take on holiday jobs.

“But it can also lead to a fulfilling career with so many roles available and the opportunity for career progression, especially in businesses such as ours which is part of the larger Inn Collection Group.”

Pupils enjoyed a behind-the-scenes look in the inn’s newly-refurbished bedrooms and dining areas, meeting members of the inn’s housekeeping and front-of-house teams as they learned about what goes into running an inn around the clock, from the food and accommodation to the importance of customer service and the variety of careers that are available in the tourism sector.

Youngsters also took part in a seafood demonstration with head chef David Barella, who explained the importance of using local produce and how the kitchen produces home-made food all day, from breakfast until 9pm.

The children finished their visit by taking part in a quiz about what they had learned at The Bamburgh Castle Inn and were set the challenge of designing a brochure for the inn and creating a new dish for the inns’ specials board.