A village landlord says he's transforming his pub into a community hub for people to meet and keep warm.
Colin Meakin's pub The Hayloft on Nottingham Road, Giltbrook, sits at the heart of the village and is going from strength to strength.
The 40-year-old said: "We’re a franchise. We opened in the first week of July last year. Business has gone from strength to strength since we opened.”
He explained how he has pushed The Hayloft to become a community pub, hosting groups such as the Age UK U3A group for elderly people. He also welcomes people to bring their laptops in and work from there.
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He continued: “We push that but only as a part of our warm hub. My cleaner is in from 9am for the morning, the heating is on, the electricity is on, just come in. We generally get people work from here in the day.”
He added how it was important to support the community during the cost of living crisis.
“It’s really good for the community, they support us massively,” Colin said. “We’re a pub but a pub that does good food as well. We’re from Ilkeston, we were massively accepted by the locals.”
A local resident, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke of the benefits of living in a place like Giltbrook. “It’s great, we love it here. We’ve got the retail park which is near. The Hayloft is a nice place, especially if you want something to eat.
“Down the road is the Caught And Bowled which is a micro pub. Obviously got the Post Office which is nice and we have good links to the M1. There’s lots of friendly people here too. It’s not bad, we’ve only been here for three years and really like it.”
Chris Webster, 58, lives in the village with his wife, and said: “The village is very small and quiet. We don’t have many shops or businesses compared to some places. We've got The Hayloft and micro-pub which are pretty popular and the Co-op.
“A lot of people drive through to get to the retail park. The retail park has a range of shops which is good. I do miss the BHS [British Home Stores] store though, it’s Marks and Spencers now. But obviously we have Ikea, there’s a TK Maxx and a kids' play centre.
“It's a nice little area to live in, the residents are quite friendly.”
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