The owners of an Ilkeston pub are pledging to invest £200,000 in a makeover - nearly double the £111,000 first mooted last year. The cost of the revamp has been upped in a bid to attract a permanent operator to The Needlemakers Arms.
The revamp, however, will only go ahead once a new tenant has been found. The pub, in Kensington Street, closed in June 2020 during the pandemic. The previous licensee quit after struggling to meet rent payments while having no income during lockdown.
A temporary operator was brought in by Heineken-owned Star Pubs & Bars later during the summer of that year, allowing the pub to reopen, while the search for a long term tenant continued. So far the company has failed to find anyone to take over the reins.
