Pub is using lockdown time for major revamp
LANDLORD STILL WANTS TO SELL BUT IS USING DOWN TIME TO MAKE SOME IMPROVEMENTS
ONE of East Staffordshire’s top food pubs is set for a major revamp while it is closed for lockdown.
Part of The Dog & Partridge in Marchington will be transformed into a “micropub-type area” in the coming weeks.
Landlord Paul Needham is to extend a studded wall to create two separate rooms on left-hand side of the pub.
He has also revealed the Church Lane hostelry, which has won a host of Camra awards for its well-kept ales, is still for sale.
It comes after his request to close the watering hole and turn it into a house for him and wife Becky was rejected by planning bosses.
Mr Needham said: “We didn’t get the change of use we wanted and the pub’s still on the market anyway, but I thought this shutdown could act as an opportunity for us.
“It stemmed from when we put furniture to one side when it looked like we were going to get flooded. I had the idea of turning the left hand side as you come through into a micropub-type area.
“I’m extending the studded wall and making that area into two small rooms that will be a bit more intimate.
“Between lockdowns, when we’d been allowed to open, we’d had people requesting their own area to eat in so they could stay in their bubbles.
“I think a lot of people will still be nervous after lockdown and will appreciate their own area to dine and drink in.
“We’re also updating the lighting and the pictures and will be getting a new log burner in for the new area, which will run down the left-hand side to the back of the pub.
“One of the rooms will set for 14 people and the other 12. Once we’ve done that area, we may look at giving the bar area a lick of paint.
“There will also be a new menu with some interesting new dishes on there.
“At the minute, according to the latest industry rumours, it seems like the Government are looking at April for drinking outside, then May for inside.”
As the Prime Minister set out yesterday in Parliament, the Government hopes that outdoors hospitality will resume from April 12, with an end to all legal limits on social contact from June 21.