Expansion plan for high-flying Air Hostess pub
POPULAR PUB WANTS A BIGGER KITCHEN SO IT CAN SERVE MORE ‘WALK-IN’ DINERS
THE LANDLORD of a popular village pub said a planned expansion is “good news for customers and staff”.
A planning application has been submitted to Rushcliffe Borough Council to expand the kitchen at the Air Hostess in Tollerton.
The pub was saved by villagers from closure last year, and landlord Mark Hughes said the plans are the result of its success following the lockdown.
“It’s really all about being able to cater for everyone that wants to come here.
“It’s good news for customers and staff, because we are a community pub so we have a lot of bookings - at any time we can be fully booked.
“This would allow us to make sure we can cater for casual walk-ins, who are usually villagers, which we’ve not been able to do as much as we’d like.
“We’ve been so busy since we have reopened. We had the original extension and the old kitchen was always a bit compact so we realised we needed to do it justice when compared to the rest of the building.”
When the pub was acquired and refurbished by a community interest company, Tollerton Flying Club, their brief was to create a welcoming and family-friendly atmosphere.
Mr Hughes, who runs the pub with Rachael Hughes, added that the proposed increase in floor space would make life easier for staff at the pub as well.
He said: “We’ve always been open when we could, be that in gazebos or outside on the decking, but ever since the refurbishment we’ve always been very busy and it’s been a fantastic restart.
“We’ve increased the size of the pub itself with the extensions and decking; we did a small extension but we needed more space for new equipment and an extra chef.
“And to give the guys more room it’s time to expand it out. It’ll be a better working environment and we can feed the amount of people that want to be fed, as we have been busy and all has been good.”
The pub in Tollerton was previously highly commended in the Refurbishment Award category of the Campaign for Real Ale’s (Camra) prestigious Pub Design Awards.
The Air Hostess was also a runnerup in Camra’s Pub Saving Award.