It started as a joke. Mitch Duncan and his partner Steve had been coming to Daylesford for several years to visit friends and every time they visited, they’d end up at the Farmers Arms Hotel.
“We loved the feel of the place and it felt like our local, even though we only got there every couple of months,” says Mitch. “It was always a cracker night and we used to say – as you do drunkenly at the end of the bar – if this place ever comes up for sale, we should buy it.”
And then it happened. Four-and-a-half years ago, a friend rang Mitch to tell him the pub was on the market and so he and Steve decided it wasn’t a joke. Suddenly they were publicans.
“We loved the idea of having such an iconic place,” Mitch says. “But we’d never run a hospitality business before. Steve’s a doctor and I’d retired from the automotive industry and had interests in property development. For the first six months we worked there ourselves but realised pretty quickly that it was best for us to get out of the way and concentrate on the business side of the business and let the hospitality professionals, led by long-term team member Megan Evans, do the fantastic job they do.”
Read More
