Siblings give an old pub new lease of life
HOSTELRY WHICH WAS REVAMPED TO TUNE OF £1M OPENS TODAY
A BROTHER and sister who plunged £1m into a pub/restaurant on a desolate, windswept moortop are celebrating as it gets set to open this afternoon (Thursday).
Sheila Sutton and Ian Roberts have spent months turning Hade Edge’s last remaining pub, The Bay Horse on Penistone Road near Holmfirth, into a modern but traditional hostelry.
And when the car park is created The Boshaw Trout will provide guest accommodation with nine bedrooms complete with ensuites along with a manager’s flat at firstfloor level.
Ian, a builder, and Sheila who also own the famous Nook pub in Holmfirth, oneand-a-half miles down the road, sought planning permission as long ago as October 2018.
However, it was delayed being granted because of concerns raised in relation to the scale of the extensions within the greenbelt and in relation to the initial lack of off-street parking.
Fortunately for Sheila and Ian this problem has since been obviated after a kindly farmer sold the duo a plot of land for more than 20 spaces.
The pub was used in the Summer Wine comedy series 30 years ago and was more recently known as The Algy Arms.
Sheila said: “It’s a dream come true and I can’t wait to open the doors tomorrow.
“We’ve got a lot of goodwill from all our regulars at The Nook who keep telling us they can’t wait for us to open. They refer to this pub as its Posh Sister, which is nice.
“But we are open to everyone and dog owners will be particularly welcome.”
The new pub with stone flag floors will boast six cask ales and will be open all day
Friday, Saturday and Sunday with more nuanced hours Monday-Thursday and depending on the seasons.
Around five full-time staff and 10 parttime staff along with a team of chefs including one versed in the niceties of Japanese cuisine.
Sheila, a former district health nurse and mum-of-four, said: “There’s such an outpouring of goodwill towards us and we’re so grateful to the farmer who sold us the land as without the hotel aspect it just wouldn’t have been commercially viable.”
In its heyday Hade Edge, a hamlet, had an incredible eight pubs due to the number of thirsty quarry workers as well as all manner of shops.
The building has been a public house for more than 150 years in one form or another.
Previous Hade Edge pubs included The Sportsman, Roundclose, Junction, Weathercock, Moorcock Inns and the Road End Pub which were either demolished or turned into homes. Those days are long gone but at least there is now one pub where walkers and those who want something different from what Holmfirth has to offer can go to slake their thirst.
Brother and sister Sheila and Ian Roberts at the bar of their new pub The Boshaw Trout at Hade Edge (above)