Tale of true 'Love in a Pub' clinches Valentines competition for Cosgrove couple
Everards Love in a Pub Barley Mow winners
A couple who met, dated and got married, all while regulars at the same pub, have won Everards’ new Valentines ‘Love in a Pub’ competition.
For Steve and Dawn Hinks love did truly blossom in the pub after the couple were first introduced to each other in 2007 by friends at the Barley Mow pub in Cosgrove. While Steve was already working at the pub, he was later joined behind the bar by Dawn and the couple’s love story continued on from there.
In 2009 on New Year’s Eve, Steve decided to take the plunge and asked Dawn to marry him. After making his excuses to pop out on an errand, he sneaked off to get an engagement ring before returning to the Barley Mow to make his proposal.
In front of a crowd of regulars, Steve went down on one knee and proposed to Dawn. She duly accepted and in January last year they got married and were joined on the day by family, friends and regulars from the pub.
The pair continue to work to this day at the Barley Mow. They are even likely to be in the pub on their first wedding anniversary, as the Barley Mow remains a constant part of their individual love story.
Dawn, 31, said: “It’s wonderful to have won the competition and we are so pleased that Everards enjoyed our story so much they chose us as winners.
“We are, I suppose, truly the original love in a pub story, as we spent so many of our early dates here and of course Steve proposed in the pub. It has been a big part of our life. We have so many happy memories of working and socialising in here.”
Erika Hardy, Everards Head of Marketing, said: “We have had a great response to the Love in a Pub Valentine’s competition. There were some great stories of how couples got together and stayed together after first meeting in the pub.
“Steve and Dawn’s story stood out among the entries because of the fact the pub had played such an important part in their personal love story.
“It was wonderful to hear how they spent so much of their early dating in the same pub establishment. That it eventually lead to marriage was just a heart-warming conclusion to a wonderful story of love blossoming in a pub.”
When Everards launched the ‘Love in a Pub’ competition last month, couples who first got together in a pub were asked to submit their personal love stories through Facebook, Twitter or the Everards website for the ‘Love in a Pub’ competition. The best tale of love at first pint wins the top prize of an overnight stay and meal in an Everards pub.
