She’s played mine host at the Star Hotel for almost 15 years – but soon it could be last orders for Suzie Thorpe in Twynholm.
The popular Cumbrian has steered the hostelry through the travails of lockdown and, she tells me, trade has never been better.
But now Suzie, 49, who splits her time between the hotel and her home in Dunscore, is ready to move on.
She got engaged during lockdown, she says, and her elderly parents Margaret and Bernard, who stay in Closeburn, would benefit from her being nearer at hand.
There’s no doubt in her mind that the Star would be a miss – not least for the friendliness of the people through good times and bad.
That spirit shone through during lockdown when the hotel was at the centre of community solidarity.
“We set up a wee shop at the back of the hotel to act as a collection point for local people,” she tells me in the cosy bar.
“We had Paul Jones the bakers, Polar Bites for fresh fish and veg and Roan’s Dairy dropping off orders.
“Either we would put the orders in or folk would do that individually then they would pick them up from here.
“It just meant that folk didn’t have to leave the village – and we met loads of new people.
“And people could also have a ten or 15-minute chat when they were doing their shopping.
“Having that human contact was very important.
“Some people would come down every other day even if it was only for a packet of biscuits.
“They were really scared at that time.
“It was a lot of work but it was needed because the local shop had closed and we stocked some cupboard stuff as well, everything from cat food to chocolate biscuits.
“Once the shop opened again we stopped the service.”
The Star, like in any small Galloway community, acted as more of a social centre than a drinking establishment, Suzie tells me.
“As soon as we could open outside again and do what we were allowed to do the regulars came back to support us.
“Even though it was outside they came anyway with hats and jackets and blankets.
“It was not really about the beer – it was more a social thing, especially for the guys that really missed the chatter.
“Generally I think women pick up the phone more and talk with their friends.
“So the guys enjoyed coming back out and being able to talk to other guys.
“We will have been 15 years here come August.
“My parents, who are in Closeburn, are not getting any younger and my dad has not been keeping well.
“And we will have had the Star for 15 years come August.
“It’s time for some fresh energy into the business as well I think.
“The hotel has never been busier – it’s a ridiculous time to be leaving.”
Suzie, I learn, was born in Lancaster in 1972 and moved to Dissington near Whitehaven in Cumbria when still a toddler.
Like so many children then whose fathers were in the police force, the move was work related as PCs tended to be moved around every few years.
“My dad was stationed in Cumbria for the rest of his police career,” Suzie explains.
“We stayed in various police houses until I was about 14 or 15 then bought a house in Whitehaven.
“My mum was a Guide leader and worked in sales, everything from kids’ toys to musical organs – she could sell anything to anybody.
“She went back to study and became an assessor in food hygiene and care management.
“My dad was known for being firm but fair.
“He would be the one everybody would call to sort out problems.
“He would just walk into a room and everybody just would back off.
“All he had to say was ‘pack it in lads!’ and that would be that.
“He was your own typical bobby.
“He knew what kids to go to and those he couldn’t because if he did the kids would get leathered.
“That’s the thing with village bobbies – you have to get to know everybody.”
Education for Suzie was Hensingham Infant and Junior School then Wyndham Secondary in Egremont, half way between Whitehaven and the Sellafield nuclear waste storage facility down the coast.
She’s is a striking woman, six foot three in her bare feet she tells me, and walks with a certain grace, her poise offering a clue to her childhood passion.
“I did dance right from when I was two years old,” she smiles.
“I spent most of my teenage years dancing and going to dance competitions.
“I can still remember my mum sewing sequins on my costumes.
“When I was eight I won a talent show at Butlin’s in Pwllheli in north Wales.
“Butlin’s used to have things like mother and son competitions and talent competitions, all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff.
“I did a tap dance from the American musical Thoroughly Modern Millie in a Charleston dress and silver tap shoes.
“I remember it well because I won – but the prize for winning was a weekend holiday at Butlin’s near Ayr, which is now Craig Tara holiday camp.
“It was bloody awful – it was the off season, it was cold and miserable and there was hardly anybody there.
“It was a heat for the next round and I obviously didn’t win.
“I did make the Whitehaven News though and I still have the newspaper cutting.
“We were all in theatre groups as well – everybody except my dad.
“We did shows in Whitehaven in the civic hall – everything from Oklahoma! to all the Rogers and Hammerstein stuff.
“I mainly did dance, not so much acting and could do tap, ballet and modern dance.
“Two or three times a week I used to travel through to Penrith which was a one and a half hour round trip.
“I started with American dance which is all about glitz and glamour and putting on a show.
“Then when I was 12 or 13 it was more like proper Royal Ballet School and contemporary dance with much more technique.
“That’s what I did at uni and graduated with BSc in Dance and Sports Science.”
Suzie related a familiar story of how, even in the 1980s, specialist further education was financially beyond a family of modest means.
“I went for auditions at various dance colleges and was accepted for two,” she recalls.
“But that was going to be way too expensive and we were not in a position to pay the fees.
“All my life I had wanted to be a dance teacher but I failed my A-levels miserably – well, not exactly, I only got two.
“I had been accepted to do dance and biology at the Roehampton Institute in London but I failed my biology, so I was then offered dance and theology, of all things.
“There was no way I was going to study theology.
“They told me at clearing at Roehampton that I would be able to change course no bother.
“But at registration there was this huge long queue for education class.
“Nobody was at the sports desk so I went over and convinced them to let me on their course.
“I just said to theology ‘seriously, you do not want me on your course!’ and they agreed to release me.
“I absolutely loved sports science – and being six foot three I ended up playing for the uni basketball team.
“We were a good team and played in the South West London league.
“I ended up being a qualified ref for the men’s game.
“God, I would not referee women’s games – they’re far too scary!”
Suzie tells me she worked in catering since the age of 15, her waitressing and functions experience work allowing her the chance to pick up part time jobs at uni.
“I worked in hospitality at Twickenham and at Roehampton sports centre as a leisure assistant doing kids’ parties,” she smiles.
“Before I left uni I was duty manager and a qualified lifeguard there.”
Suzie charts the next stage in her life journey – one which took her all the way to the Northern Isles.
“After graduating from Roehampton with a BSc in Dance and Sports Science I moved back to Cumbria and worked for a few years at Wyndham School Leisure Centre.
“Then in 1999 I saw a post advertised for manager of the Pickaquoy Centre in the Orkney Isles.
“It was a brand new facility getting built for the Millennium.
“I went up there for interview – and got the job.
“It was brilliant – Orkney was a great place to live.
“We stayed up there until we came back to Cumbria in 2004.
“We stayed in a little village called Dounby, about 15 miles from Kirkwall.
“It was a really friendly place and a nice way of life – although there was no basketball in Orkney!
“The remoteness didn’t trouble me.”
Orkney is famed for its archaeology – and I ask if Suzie visited any neolithic sites.
It turns out she did – but her fear of enclosed places tarnished the experience somewhat.
“I went to the Maeshowe chambered cairn which has this long narrow entrance only a couple of feet high,” she recalls.
“You lie on a little trolley and
go through this wee tunnel into
the central cavern.
“I took one look at it and ‘nope, I’m not having that!’ and walked back to the visitor centre.
“I don’t do confined spaces.
“The rest came back and said it was really big inside but there was no way I was going in.”
After returning to Cumbria – Suzie’s son Ethan was born in 2006 – a desire to be her own boss took her back over the Border – this time to Twynholm.
“We had talked about owning a little village pub,” she says.
“I talked to mum and dad who were up for it.
“Ethan is their only grandchild and they said ‘yep, we’ll sell up and come with you.’
“I had been to the area before for Quest, a quality assurance scheme for leisure centres.
“I would travel over quite a bit to the Ryan Centre in Stranraer and Castle Douglas and could see it was a lovely area.
“We started looking but Wigtown and New Galloway were a little bit too far out.
“Then we came to see the Burnbank, which then was Twynholm’s other pub.
“It was not for us because it did not have enough space and I said to my mum it’s a shame the Star was not for sale.
“Mum being mum found out it was – and rang to tell me.
“It ticked all the boxes – a big upstairs, garden, a few rooms, a bar and restaurant – and Twynholm had a little village school.
“We took over on August 1, 2008 and it was a steep learning curve.
“I had worked in hospitality all my life but running the Star was a different ball game – we went through quite a few chefs!
“We were very busy and got on grand with the locals – they soon tell you what you are doing wrong.
“The village has always been really welcoming.
“Ethan was only two when we moved here and I soon met other mums and families.
“I joined the ladies darts team – we had men’s and women’s teams – and played in the Fleet Darts League.
“In Orkney we had practice night in the Merkister Hotel in Harray and I had joined the ladies’ team up there.
“I could be okay at darts but now I’m lucky if I hit the board!
“If you don’t practice regularly you lose it.”
Suzie laughs when I ask whether the Twynholm ladies ever went on social outings, describing many tales as “unprintable”.
“We had some good fun trips to Blackpool,” is as much as she’s prepared to divulge.
“Not playing darts – just a girls’ weekend going out to the clubs.”
Now those days could be coming to an end – and Suzie is keen to set the record straight.
“There’s a family that are really interested in taking over,” she says.
“At the moment we are just finalising plans but nothing is signed and sealed yet.
“Contrary to local speculation the prospective owners are keeping all the staff.
“So watch this space I suppose!”
