Entertainment, ‘top quality pies’, meals under a tenner and a sense of community is what you’ll find at one Nottinghamshire pub that’s been taken over by a new team. ‘It’s more than a pub, it’s a community hub’, is the message the new team wants to get out.
The Boat and Horses pub is on 137 Trent Road in the Beeston Rylands. The team of four taking over, who are all boaters, hope to create a new community for the area.
The new opening date of the pub is on Friday (March 3) at 4pm. March 24th, will be the pub's launch party. With dozens of experience working behind the bar, Martin Henson and Neil Foukes spoke about how the takeover came about.
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Neil, 62, said: “Martin had come in for a pint last February, he’s ran a pub in Portsmouth before and was talking about coming back. I said ‘what’s stopping you?’ and from then, we both agreed to come into this together.”
Martin worked in the Navy for 9 years and Neil left the forces 20 years ago, he was a Royal engineer. Neil added: “Martin has the experience and I have the enthusiasm.
“The army, it’s a brotherhood and I haven’t experienced that since coming out [of the army] which was 20 years ago until now.”
With a ‘huge’ function room, Martin and Neil were regulars at the Boat and Horses. Martin, 51, said: “We know a lot of people in the area and for the past seven years, we’ve listened to what they want to see.
“We have a karaoke set up, all brand new, we’re planning open mic nights. We want to concentrate on being more than a pub.”
With premium prices, the pub will be getting their beer from Star Pubs and Bars. With a classic selection of drinks including: John Smiths, Fosters, Strongbow, wines and more, the pub will also be showing rugby and football.
Martin added: “We can’t compete with Wetherspoons but we’ll be full of quality. We will have deals during the weekdays: real ale specials and weekend specials for 1 cider, 1 lager and 1 bitter.”
The pub's desserts will come from the Pudding Pantry and ‘top notch’ pies from Huntingdons. People will be able to hire the function room for occasions too.
Neil said: “We’ll be here to look out for people. We’re looking forward to welcoming people and having a chat. The pub will have a decent coffee machine and we'll be veteran friendly. “Added to the pub will be Forces memorabilia.”
Martin added: “We want to celebrate those serving, those who have served and those we’ve lost.”
The pub will be open 11-11.30 weekdays, 11-12 Friday Saturday and 11-11.30 on a Sunday.
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