There is a moment, just after you walk through the doors of the Weary Traveller in Cullompton, when the place suddenly opens up around you.
Beyond the bar sits a sprawling beer garden, a play area buzzing with families and a pub that feels far bigger - and louder - than first impressions suggest. It is exactly the kind of surprise Shelly Yarde was hoping people would rediscover.
One year after taking over the pub, the 37-year-old landlady says the Weary Traveller has become what she always believed it could be again - a community hub built on music, food and familiar faces.
“It has been tough,” Shelly admitted. “But so many people doubted me and said I would not be able to do this. That gave me more drive and passion.
“So many people said I would not make it until Christmas and I did Christmas, I got through winter and now I am here one year later. I could not be prouder of my team or my family.”
Shelly officially opened the pub on Saturday, May 10, 2025 after taking over the venue with ambitions to restore its standing in the town.
Before stepping behind the bar full-time, she had spent more than a decade working in the motor trade, although pubs and hotels had featured in her earlier working life. The move into hospitality, she admits, was not exactly straightforward - but she immediately saw potential in the site.
“I thought this place had so much opportunity and potential and that it was not being used at its best,” she said.
“I wanted to make it back into a community hub.”
That vision required plenty of work from the outset. Shelly said the pub was not in good condition when she took it over and that she and her mother Karen spent weeks redecorating before opening day.
“We wallpapered, we painted, the garden was done,” she said.
“We pretty much had to gut the place and bring it back up to a clean, usable condition.”
Karen later joined the business full-time, becoming one of the key people helping Shelly juggle pub life alongside raising her two children - including a three-year-old son.
Without that support network, Shelly says running the pub would have been impossible.
“My mum is a godsend for me,” she said. “Without my mum I could not do this.”
Over the past year, music has become one of the venue’s defining features. Shelly believed there was a gap locally for more live entertainment and decided to make gigs and events central to the pub’s identity.
That decision helped revive Weary Fest - a long-running local music weekend that returned under her leadership last summer.
Shelly admitted she had never even attended the event before organising it herself.
“When I came here, one of the first things people asked me was, ‘Are you doing Weary Fest?’” she said.
“I felt like I did not really have much choice in the matter because people wanted it so much.
“I kind of threw myself in at the deep end with it and everyone absolutely loved it.”
The festival is now set to return across the August Bank Holiday weekend, from Thursday, August 28 until Sunday, August 31, with live music throughout the weekend followed by a children’s party on Monday.
Shelly said keeping the event free to attend had become a major draw.
“We do not charge for entry for Weary Fest,” she said. “I think that is a big draw for it as well.”
The pub’s one-year anniversary celebrations recently gave another glimpse into how far the venue has come. A rodeo bull, bouncy castle and live performances transformed the grounds into a packed community event.
Shelly believes part of the pub’s revival has come from making it more affordable at a time when many pubs continue to struggle with rising costs and changing customer habits.
“This place was always renowned for being really expensive,” she said.
“We are much cheaper now and I do feel like that is helping people with the cost of living.”
The menu now ranges from basket meals costing £8.50 to steaks priced at £24, while the kitchen - led by chef Sophie Sydenham - focuses heavily on grilled food, burgers and carvery favourites.
“Our burgers are phenomenal,” Shelly laughed. “Our steaks are incredible.”
Sunday carvery has become one of the venue’s biggest attractions.
“All the staff make sure we have one on a Sunday after service,” she said. “If we are eating it, you can guarantee it is good.”
But while the food and events may bring people through the doors, Shelly believes the real success lies in the atmosphere the pub has rebuilt over the past 12 months.
“I get a lot of people telling me I have brought the Weary back to how it used to be,” she said.
“For me, that is probably the biggest compliment I can get.”
And after surviving the difficult first winter, weathering personal upheaval and proving doubters wrong, Shelly has no plans to slow down.
More live music nights are already booked, darts teams are returning and the pub calendar is filling quickly through the summer months.
For Shelly, though, the ambition remains simple.
“It is about making sure everyone who walks through my door gets the same level of treatment,” she said.
“We want people to have an experience they remember and keep coming back for.”
