Carl Stout from The Devvie

The Devonshire Arms (known locally as The Devvie) has stood on Station Street, Burton upon Trent since the 1840’s, when it was owned by the Appleby family. It became part of the estate of James Eadie & Son in 1888, who brewed a stone’s throw away on Cross Street and after Eadie’s sold to Bass in the 1920’s, The Devvie followed suit and became a Bass pub. Bass later sold the premises to Ind Coope where it became one of their flagship houses in the 1980’s. Following the Bass takeover of Ind Coope The Devvie changed hands again and was bought by Burton Bridge Brewery who maintained the green and gold Ind Coope identity.

Today it is a Freehouse under the ownership of Carl and Nicki Stout, who ran the Burton Bridge pub for the last ten years. They bought The Devvie on 18 February 2019. Carl and Nicki have a long and varied history in the pub trade.

“My wife has always been involved in the licencing trade,” says Carl. “She worked behind the bar and was then Assistant Manager at the Fettler & Firkin pub chain in Nuneaton. We used to drink in the Wetherspoon’s when we lived in Nuneaton and saw the application for Trainee Pub Managers, we applied, got it, we put our house up for rent, quit our jobs and ended up working for Wetherspoon’s in North London in 1997. We worked at the Moon on the Hill in Harrow for twelve months, then moved to Cambridge and then to the Lord Burton as Managers in our own right, where we stayed for three and a half years.”

It was through managing the Lord Burton that Carl and Nicki first met Geoff Mumford and Bruce Wilkinson of Burton Bridge Brewery; this was the start of a long term partnership.

“They offered us the Devonshire as a tenancy, which we ran for five years. When Kevin left the Bridge we were offered that and we ran that as a tenancy for ten years and then we came back here as Freeholders.”

What it is that makes The Devvie such a special place?

“It’s a fantastic building, one of the oldest pubs in the Burton and the location!” reckons Carl. “It’s a town centre pub but with a large local cliental means we have a lot of locals but we also get a lot of passing trade, people using the Indian Restaurants … we get a broad spectrum of customer.”

The Devvie forms part of what is unofficially known as “The Station Street Run”, this also includes The Roebuck, The Last Heretic and The Cooper’s Tavern. Such a concentration of excellent pubs all within staggering distance of each other is one of the reasons that people still flock to Burton for the beer!

“When I follow Burton Albion away and talk to other supporters, they all love coming to Burton,” reveals Carl. “When we got relegated, there were a lot of Championship teams willing Burton to stay up so they could come here for a drink! We had a coach full of Wolves fans turn up at the Bridge and they sent us a Christmas card with a twenty pound note to thank us for the hospitality.”

The Devvie is a football friendly place and welcomes both home and away fans, as long as they behave themselves: “When supporters come to Burton, there is no threat, intimidation or hostility towards away supporters. There’s no history or rivalries there.”

Although The Devvie is a Freehouse, Burton Bridge Brewery beers still feature heavily on the bar.

“One of the conditions of the sale was that I have to sell three Burton Bridge beers for a period of time,” says Carl, not that this is any hardship of course and it is easy to argue that this forms part of their identity. “The Bridge Bitter is as good a bitter as you’ll get, the Stairway to Heaven is a very popular drink and then I rotate the dark ones, so I have the Top Dog Stout, the Damson Porter and the regular Porter. Even if I was free of tie I would still have two Burton Bridge beers on.”

Along with the Bridge beers Carl has four guests: “I don’t pick guest ales that are off the wall, I go for drinkability. We always have a light one around 3.8%, two around the 4.5-5.0% mark and typically a stronger one. With the three Burton Bridge and four guest ales I think we cover all bases in terms of strength and tastes.”

If you have attended one of Carl and Nicki’s annual Beer and Sausage Festivals at The Bridge, the good news is that these are set to continue.

“We are planning on having a festival at the end of September / beginning of October. Logistically it’ll be a bit different, we have got an outside area but it’s not quite as perfect as it was at the Bridge, but I am sure there are ways around it.”

The popular food nights are also staying: “At the Bridge we started doing a Steak Night on a Tuesday, one of the quieter nights, this proved a tremendous success. We have extended our range of themed evenings, we do the burger night, the steak night, the fish night and we are trialling pizza evenings as well. I don’t want to turn this into a food pub, it is a boozer first and foremost, but it’s something my wife enjoys doing and it is all home cooked food.”

Since February they have made a few tweaks to the pub, including maps and historical pictures of Burton but generally Carl is happy with the place: “It’s there or thereabouts. We’ve redecorated, put in new lighting, pictures and the feedback has been very positive We will probably end up doing something with the front bar next year, the garden isn’t too bad and then we may look at repainting externally.”

Carl displays an obvious passion for being a pub Landlord, the pride he has in his beer and his premises are immediately apparent from the minute you walk in the The Devvie, mind you it isn’t as glamourous a job as some may think.

“After you’ve been in the pub trade for over 20 odd years, your body clock is all over the place; split shifts, one hour splits, all day shifts … but the worst thing is getting up early in the morning. Anything after nine o’clock I’m not too bad, anything before … it’s a struggle,” he laughs. “I work in the region of 55 to 60 hours a week, it’s the sort of job when you don’t clock in and clock out.”

Carl’s favourite part of the job?

“Friday and Saturday evening, when the pub is full and there’s a nice atmosphere, that’s when I really enjoy it. It’s the customers that make a pub not the Landlord, we put things in place but it can’t happen without the customers,” he says humbly.

The Devvie: one of the finest pubs in arguably the best town for beer in the country. What’s not to like?

@devvieburton