Pub manager plea to yobs after revamp
THE manager of a city pub has urged vandals to leave the building alone as it prepares for a grand reopening after lockdown.
The Glade in Willenhall is an important pub for the local community, but manager Mick Ryan is concerned the brewery could get fed up if local youths continue to vandalise it.
Mick has been manager of the pub on Middle Ride for more than two years and has been working hard to get it open after a difficult year caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
He says the brewery has spent thousands of pounds refurbishing the pub, but he admits their willingness to invest could disappear if the Glade carries on being targeted by what he calls a “small handful of idiots”.
Mick told the Coventry Telegraph: “We’ve done the pub up, ahead of it reopening.
“But we’ve got young kids, teenagers, ripping posters off the wall, digging their names into benches, writing graffiti on the walls, burning the benches and generally littering all over the place.
“We’ve also had kids throwing eggs at the window – it’s childish and you think to yourself: ‘why?’
“The pub has been really run down and the brewery have spent a lot of money on it, getting it refurbished and done up.
“But, like every area, we’ve got a handful of idiots who just don’t respect anything – it’s local kids who are bored, they’ve got nothing to do.
“But we need people to respect the pub otherwise the brewery will just say ‘it’s not worth the hassle.’
“We also live above pub so it’s not nice that our home is being targeted.”
Willenhall is a close-knit community but due to the changing nature of the pub industry down the years there are not many drinking establishments available to local people.
Pubs such as The Winnall and The White Bear have both closed in the last 10 years, meaning the Glade and the Willenhall Social Club are the only places where locals can get together for a drink.
Mick explained: “There is no pub open in Willenhall except for the Glade, so we have to work to make sure it stays open, and that means everyone respecting it.
“And like I say, the brewery have put a lot of money into it, doing it up, replacing the seats and stuff, and we want to reopen for the community.
“It means a lot to Willenhall. I know a lot of locals are looking forward to it reopening. We run it, but it’s not our pub, it’s the community’s.
“But a small handful of idiots keep wrecking it for everyone. We’re trying to get this place done up, so we can get it back on the map and give it back to the community.
“We planning on doing disco nights, getting a football team, and pool team up and running.
“We want to make it a familyoriented, friendly pub people want to come to for a drink and a nice time.
“But we need people to respect the pub, otherwise we won’t be able to do any of that.”