A little about Barry – the man behind The Longlands Inn & Restaurant

A little about Barry – the man behind The Longlands Inn & Restaurant

In 2027, Barry Robinson will be marking 35 years of being at the helm of The Longlands after he rescued it from a dark, boarded up existence and steadily turned it into the thriving bar, restaurant, and rooms it is today. Here’s a little insider glimpse into how he got started in business and how he likes to spend his time.

Born into a life of hospitality – his parents owned pubs in Yorkshire – Barry, with his spontaneous, entrepreneurial, and sociable nature, was always destined to follow a career in leisure. A self-made man, when his parents retired to Morecambe, Barry followed them, not knowing what he wanted to do. He leased a shop in the town, started selling fruit & veg, before, somewhat randomly, buying a jukebox, then a second jukebox.

In those days, Morecambe was a thriving seaside town and popular holiday destination where hotels, pubs, and amusement arcades all bustled with tourists. Barry added slot machines to jukeboxes, said goodbye to fruit & veg, and focused solely on buying machines and renting them to pubs and other venues.

Before long, he expanded to owning amusement arcades on Frontierland – a theme park on the promenade. A self-confessed workaholic, it wasn’t unusual for Barry to be working 16–17-hour days. So, it’s no surprise that at 83, he’s still keeping his hand in at The Longlands,doing everything from cellar work and banking to gardening and refurbishing luxury holiday cottages.

After almost 20 years when the amusement arcade business had run its course, Barry sold up and bought Plato’s in Kirkby Lonsdale, which was operating as a wine merchant. He ran the wine merchants for a few years before converting it into a restaurant, and later, adding rooms.

And so to The Longlands…

But it was The Longlands that really captured his heart and imagination. Remembering it from years earlier as a ‘really buzzing place’, Barry, driving past one evening, was sad to see it closed and the windows blacked out. “It turned out it had been closed for around six months,” he said. “The very next morning I phoned and negotiated with the brewery to buy it. All the rooms were pretty small, so we knocked a few walls out, added a conservatory, and re-opened it. We initially had six rooms upstairs, and after a couple of years, we added more and refurbished the existing rooms to add en-suite bathrooms.”

Over the last 30 years, Barry has established The Longlands Inn & Restaurant to be a proud family business, run with daughters, Fiona and Jayne. Never standing still, The Longlands is always evolving, and even through large-scale renovations and modernisations, has alwaysremained a place where both locals and visitors want to come, feel completely at home, and can chat and laugh together at the bar.

“I’ve always had the motto, if a business is running well, we’ll invest more into it”, said Barry. “So, whether it’s improving the rooms, the cottages, or the kitchen, we’ve got an ongoing refurbishment programme at The Longlands.”

Splitting his time between the Longlands & Switzerland

When Barry isn’t at The Longlands, he’s most likely to be in Switzerland. In what was another Barry-esque burst of spontaneity, 14 years ago he bought an apartment on Lake Geneva after seeing an ad in a weekend newspaper. “Throughout my life, I’d never owned a brand-new car,” said Barry. “So, I was looking for the motoring pages of the Saturday Telegraph when there was an editorial about a new marina and apartment complex being built on Lake Geneva. As soon as Monday came round, I phoned to enquire and was told they were selling fast. They only had three 2-bedroomed apartments left, so, I jumped on a plane, flew over to see them, and chose the one with the best views.

“I still never got the new car!”

A home from home

Barry travels to Switzerland with his faithful black labrador, Bella. Like her canine predecessors, Ronnie (who inspired The Longlands’ Ronnie’s Rewards Scheme) and Joe, Bella is great company and a good conversation starter as people inevitably want to meet her. “One night I was introduced to a chef from a little restaurant in the next village as he came over to pat my dog,” said Barry. “The place had opened in the 1930s and was still run by the same family. They told me it was the best place to eat within 50 miles. I was curious, so the next day I walked into the village and, while I was having something to eat in the bar, I looked out of the window and three John Deere tractors pulled into the car park! It was just like being back at The Longlands!”

Food Allergies and Intolerances

All our food is prepared on site in our open plan kitchen. Whilst we can cater for vegetarian, vegan and gluten free diets, please be aware that some of our foods contain allergens. Please speak to a member of staff for more information or to discuss your personal dietary requirements.