In business the numbers often speak for themselves.

And the fact that south Cumbrian pub chain Lakeland Inns has seen a 400 per cent growth in turnover in the last five years should be enough to make anyone take notice.

Managing director Kirsty Mackenzie started Lakeland Inns in 2015 with husband Scott when they bought Ulverston’s Sun Inn, in Market Street, from his dad Dave.

Since then the company has taken on two more pubs; the Commodore Inn, in Grange, and the Black Cock Inn, Broughton.

In September 2018 the company also bought Stringer’s Brewery, in Ulverston.

Prior to running the business, Kirsty - who is Ulverston born and bred - was a regional business development manager for Estee Lauder.

“You would be surprised that a lot of the same principles apply,” she said.

“The main thing you look at when you are developing any business is customer service and the customer experience and journey and the visuals and what they see when they walk in.

“We closed the Sun the day we took over and did a massive refurbishment and really concentrated on getting a really good menu together and good quality food. We did really well really quickly and I was always quite driven to grow and we had a really good business model in place here.”

The company applied the same winning formula to the other establishments, which it leases as a tenant from the Inns and Leisure group.

“At the time I was pregnant with twins and so we took the easy option and took them both on at the same time,” said Kirsty.

“The Commodore has grown massively and so has the Black Cock. The Black Cock is very much food-led and it’s the kind of place you visit to have a quality meal and the Commodore is very much for tourists and people visiting Grange.

“There are a few reasons why we’ve done so well. The first is that we always listen to our customers.

“We try to look after our employees and we’re really keen on doing employee benefits schemes. Last year I put together our very own employee benefits scheme for Lakeland Inns and I approached Costa in Ulverston and the Roxy Cinema and asked whether they would be willing to work with us in order to put together a package of things for our staff. That’s really helped us to retain staff and boost morale of the staff that we’ve got.

“I am definitely on the lookout for a new pub, but I want to make sure that it is in the right location.

“This year we’ve just had planning permission passed for the Commodore to have a balcony built overlooking Morecambe Bay. That’s being built as we speak. That’s something that will be huge for the Commodore.”