FOCUS: Seasons of change...A year of ups and downs for La Robeline

Monday 08 January 2024

For a business that has been used to showcase Jersey to an international audience and held as an exemplar of home-made quality and local provenance, it is surprising to hear that La Robeline Cider Company was close to shutting its doors for good last summer.

However, the source of the family-owned business’s woes wasn’t down to demand but to a protracted and painful engagement with the planning system, specifically whether it should be allowed to open a seasonal restaurant in its St Ouen cider barn.

Eventually, this summer, an appeal against permission was rejected by the Environment Minister, allowing Richard and Sarah Matlock to open the restaurant for seven weeks. That window, albeit much smaller than they'd hoped for, provided a lifeline to the business, and La Robeline is now focused on the season ahead.

This year, the business featured in a Channel 5 show narrated by Alan Titchmarch, which attracted more than a million viewers to tune in.

But while the show did go on, the Matlocks were facing an existential threat off-screen.

At the end of 2023, Sarah Matlock sat down with Express to speak about the travails, and the relief of finally getting the green light...

How did your planning journey begin?

"It's been a very long journey but we finally received planning permission to open three nights a week, very specifically Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights between the first of April and the 30th of September. Once we got planning permission, we could then get the [liquor] licence.

"With that all in place, we were able to open for seven weeks this year, although we should have been open for 24, so we lost a huge amount of the season. We're trying very hard to be positive and look forward but, financially, it could have been devastating. It was a very close call, but we survived."

Why was the process so difficult?

"The restaurant had been open for three years during covid with everybody's blessing and all the permissions in place. Everybody was happy with it: we had the licence, and everything was fine.

"That first year, we were able to open for ten Thursday nights, and Richard was cooking in our domestic kitchen. And we were getting 40-45 guests a night, so it was a little crazy, to say at least.

Pictured: "Everybody was happy with it: we had the licence, and everything was fine." (Dave Ferguson)

"So, Richard just said: 'I'm going to build a kitchen on the back of the barn'. We measured it out and he thought that he didn't need permission because it was a certain size. However, it was a commercial kitchen so, of course, we needed planning permission, but we didn't realise at the time.

"In was the middle of covid and, frankly, everybody was just doing anything they possibly could survive. Planning came in 2021 and said we needed planning permission, but they added that we could continue to the end of the season then put in a retrospective application, which they didn't see would be a problem.

"So, we got the planning application in and then, in May 2022, it was refused by the Planning Committee.

"We'd done everything that Planning had asked us to do but after we had said our piece at the hearing, Deputy Steve Luce then said: 'I can't possibly let you knock a hole in the granite wall.'

"There were five points to the planning application. One of them was to reinstate an existing entrance into a field for parking, and he said he wouldn't let that happen.

"We came out absolutely gobsmacked, but both he and Planning told us to put in a new application, with no mention of granite walls, and it'll go through in a matter of weeks.

"It actually went through in March 2023, so quite a few weeks after that, and then a neighbour appealed against it. Then we got the bombshell that we weren't allowed to open until the appeal had been concluded.

"So, talk about a perfect storm. Not only were we ready to open but we also had the Channel Five film crew coming to film us getting ready to open the restaurant and for our opening night in April. They turned up a day or so later and I told them: 'I'm really sorry, but we're going to have to find something else to film because we can't open'.

"We eventually opened in mid-August, once the appeal had been rejected."

What are your views of the planning system in Jersey, having been through it?

"It looks terribly straightforward but, in reality, it's not. You can have one person on the Planning Committee saying you can't knock a hole in the wall, and then telling you to put a new planning application in.

"You then have a change of government, and they interpret it in a different way. Richard and I genuinely believe that had we not had the election, we would have been open all this season.

Pictured: Sarah and Richard Matlock at La Robeline. (Dave Ferguson)

"I knew nothing about planning in Jersey or the UK. It transpires that in the UK, once you get planning permission, that can't be changed unless there is a successful appeal. Whereas over here, you get your planning permission then 28 days later, somebody can write a letter and suddenly you've not got planning permission.

"The other thing we were startled about was that our business was stopped in its tracks, and I don't think that should be able to happen. We know plenty of businesses that have had retrospective planning application and an appeal, but they've carried on. We weren't allowed to, and I think that needs to be looked at.

How heartened were you by public support for the business?

"It was amazing to have so much public opinion in our favour but, in reality, everywhere we went, especially after the TV programme, people were saying: 'Oh, it's outrageous; isn't that dreadful.'

"Unfortunately, it got to the point where I didn't want to go out because I was constantly reminded of our precarious position, and it had a detrimental effect on my health.

Pictured: "We've just had seven amazing weeks, when we were so busy." (Dave Ferguson)

"Richard is fine but, unfortunately, I'm on medication and it's going to be quite a while until I'm off them. We've just had seven amazing weeks, when we were so busy. Everybody who came loved it; it's been absolutely fabulous, but I'm not functioning as I should be, so we've had to employ somebody to help me.

"I put this totally down to this situation with the restaurant. It's taken its toll because it felt very personal. We didn't feel as though it was personal for the person who lodged the appeal; however, another neighbour did get involved and that did feel more personal, and it still does.

"We've lived her for 32 years, probably the longest among residents in this area. This is our forever home, and we genuinely thought we were going to lose it. We were having serious discussions about, if we don't get through this, having to sell and leave the island."

Has the restaurant opening the summer avoided that?

"Yes, it has but it was a very close call. Now that the restaurant has closed, we attended the black butter and cider festivals, and we've also had a couple of private parties. We'll then go to the Christmas markets, so we are manically making sausages. It is also the apple harvest, so we are busy making cider.

"After Christmas, we'll then run the rotisserie and wood-fire roasts in January, February and March, and then we reopen the restaurant in early April."

What makes the restaurant so special?

"We use local and seasonal produce where possible. So, when asparagus is in season, everything has asparagus with it, and we serve local hand-dived scallops. We know where everything comes from. We do import our beef from Scotland, but we dry-age it ourselves so we have complete control over it. The côte de boeuf is our signature dish but all the dishes that we make have their following.

"The barn seats up to 50 guests, with Richard cooking in the open kitchen on the side. People tend to come early and stay for the evening, with a four-course meal and nice wines, because it is a relatively remote location, plus everyone must be off the premises by 10.30 pm.

"There is no parking at the farm, so Planning asked us to run a park-and-ride scheme. We initially wanted to do it from the parish hall but settled on Les Laveurs car park opposite Jersey Pearl.

Pictured: "The barn seats up to 50 guests, with Richard cooking in the open kitchen on the side." (Dave Ferguson)

"Bar one evening, that's worked extremely well. I would say about half our guests arrive by bicycle or walk or get a taxi here. We use a local taxi firm, which has an electric vehicle, to run people between here and Les Laveurs; it cost us a fortune, but it works."

"Some of the concerns voiced at the appeal included people wandering across private land but, to my knowledge, that has never happened.

"People do chat as they leave, but we've got very good friends at the top of the lane and they have not really been bothered with noise. Richard will run some of the staff home and he always comes back with then windows down to see if he can hear anything, and there's nothing.

"At the end of the day, all our guests understand the rules and they respect them, and when I say please leave quietly, they leave quietly.

"They've been fantastic, our staff have been fantastic and I'm already taking bookings for 4 April and beyond. We're looking forward to a full and busy season next year."

READ MORE...

La Robeline featured in the December 2023/January 2024 edition of Connect Magazine for its 'New Beginnings' feature - read it in full below...