29th December 2025
Written by Holly Richardson
We have some pubs which crack on with things so much, that we rarely hear from them. But… we were determined to get some time aside to meet Fermin, our Pub Partner, as he approached his 33rd year at the pub.
So firstly, there’s three flags flying beautifully outside one of which is the Spanish flag. What’s the story there?
Yes, I am Spanish. I’m from Avila, a city around one hour and a half away from Madrid. It’s a historic walled city in the region of Castilla y Leon. As a region its famous for having lots of UNESCO world heritage sites and was even the home of Spanish language ‘Castellon’. Like a lot of Spain, it’s also a region very rich on its gastronomy. It produces great wines from regions like Ribera del Duero for those red wine lovers and Rueda for those who love a fruity white. That’s before we even get into some of the incredible meat dishes and cheeses that the region has to offer.
Wow, what brought you away from Spain and here to the UK?
I came to the UK because I wanted to learn a bit of English to start with. I got married, and then here we are, we carry on. My wife is from Sandbach. Before landing here, I travelled all over the UK, I enjoyed moving around from one place to another, spending time in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Isle of Wight and Wiltshire. But, my brother came to work in Cheshire too, so I came here too. And here we are…
Here you are, 33 years at the Legs of Man…
Well, it’s a nice place. I’ve got a nice clientele and it’s quite enjoyable really. We have a lot of regulars that visit, it’s a good mixture of ages and we’re fortunate to have a great lunch time following, for those who’ve finished their working life and are enjoying their day-to-day freedom. We focus more on the food side of things, and most people visit to dine with us.
Sounds lovely, so does your menu reflect your heritage?
Actually, not really. I like being able to provide classic home-cooked dishes from the UK and beyond. But I suppose, there’s a link to Spain in that – great quality, hearty portions and food made with care and flavour is all very important to us. I also don’t really think Spanish food is what our clientele wants. We could of course put tapas on the menu… But, you know, I think that then we might “kill the adder*”. So, I don’t think it’s suitable for here – maybe if it was in a town.
What’s your speciality then?
We have such a great variety of things on often here, we have a big menu with options to suit everyone. But there’s a few that people come back for time and time again. The Lemon Sole is popular, as is the Chicken Curry, Steak Pie and Roast Duck. So even within those four popular items, you can see the diversity. We’ve also got so many great fish speciality dishes too, that a lot of places don’t really do anymore, it’s probably the biggest selection in Cheshire!
Wow, so how do you manage to have such a large menu?
Well, everything sells! We’re fortunate to be really busy and can sustain a great menu and also great prices. I think with being such value for money, we don’t need to worry about food going to waste.
So aside options aplenty, what do you do to make things special for your guests?
We’ve built things on value for money with great portion sizes, but also it’s just the attention to detail with every guest. We know our guests’ names and we make sure everyone gets a warm welcoming atmosphere. It’s a hard industry to be in at this time of year, and we need to make sure we do everything we can.
Also, it’s the free chips! We go through so many potatoes, but it’s what we’re known for.
Free chips?!
Yeh, that’s a big draw! So with every main meal we give a free portion of home-made chips. Most places to go now you get this tiny bowl of chips for like £5-6, but the idea of doing that, or taking that away would simply be a ‘no’. It’s a cost to us, but people love it so much, that it’s key to what we do. And of course the bread rolls. It’s those little things that happened twenty years ago, that you don’t often see nowadays. People are so accustomed to them too, it’s great. If for whatever reason you forget to drop the bread off, you can be sure that someone will let you know!
Like you said, that’s a big cost for you!
It is! We don’t just buy in our chips, either. So it’s not just a case of ordering large quantities, it’s the preparation work too right from the peeling. But people love them. We get loads of comments on how good our chips are.
And finally, tell us about a challenge you’ve had in your pub career and what you did to overcome it?
It’s been a long time, there has been a few. But I think five years ago when the world stopped for the pandemic that could have been very tough, as it was for a lot of the industry. But, we decided to over takeaway meals, something we hadn’t done before – and could have never imagined. We thought we might end up doing one or two bits, but we ended up rushed off our feet, whizzing around in the car. It caught us by surprise that first day. The community really supported us, and we even got new customers, who visit us every week now.
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