Old Ship was once a wreck – but pub’s new owners have put the wind back in its sails
IT’S an all too common story - a pub closes down, a new tenant can’t be found so it ends up being converted into flats or razed to the ground to make way for houses.
That was the fear of villagers in Lowdham when the Old Ship Inn, a centuries-old local, was boarded up and the months ticked by without a glimmer of interest.
But then Emma Marsh and her partner Phil Butler came along - and despite the amount of work that lay in wait, it was their dream pub.
Three years on and the Old Ship, which is known to date back to 1788, is no longer sinking.
Business is on the up at the traditional country pub, which boasts home-cooked food, real ales and a decent selection of gins.
With a family and dogs themselves, it was imperative to make the pub welcoming to both children and four-legged friends.
“They struggled to find someone to take the place on. When we took it on there was hardly any furniture. The place was a just a wreck,” said landlady Emma, 48.
“We looked at other pubs. It was something we’d talked about wanting to do for a while. We were offered a couple of different ones which were already up and running but the locations just didn’t feel right.
“I saw this one online and didn’t know it was boarded up and closed down at the time. We know Lowdham well, we’re local, and I just saw the potential.”
The pub, in Main Street, closed down in January 2018 - at that time it was being run as a karaoke/sports bar.
“Everything was red velvet furniture. There was a red corner unit here - we went to have it reupholstered and the guys came in ‘we can’t do it’ as it was all rotten. We took it out and then the walls fell down so we had to completely re damp course all this area, the ladies, the dining room and the bar.”
That was just one of the obstacles. If it could blow up, it did. If it could flood, it did.
Emma, a mum-of-three, said: wasn’t even the bell to ring at the end of the night, there was no lightbulbs or anything when we came,” she added.
Locals showed their support by donating empty whisky bottles to add character and some brought in the pictures that hang on the walls of the historic building that’s a hodge podge of what was once a pub, the village Post Office and a cottage and has been extended over the years.
The snug and all the other nooks and crannies have all been retained.
Emma said: “A lot of places when they take them on they tend to knock the walls out and make them all open plan and we didn’t want to change the character... in fact it didn’t have much character when we came because everything had gone. I go round the antiques fair over the road and pick knick knacks to hang on walls.”
Besides the bar and dining area, the pub has upstairs rooms offering bed and breakfast. As well as putting up local residents when their homes were flooded last year, they’ve welcomed the occasional famous face.
Phil, 48, said: “We are opposite the village hall which was another selling point for us when we took it on. We were aware they did a lot of music events over there - which will be starting up again now - and had a lot of retro bands on.
“We’ve had Paul Young stay here. Toyah Wilcox and China Crisis have been in and Hazel O’connor came in for a drink.”
Terry Ridgway, 81, of Gedling, said: “I love it. I’ve been coming in here since I was 18. I like the landlord, landlady and staff and the beer. I like coming here and having a couple or three pints.”
The amount of beer now being sold is the highest it’s been in the last 20-odd years and word is spreading beyond the village.
Phil, who previously worked in industrial plastics, said: “Without the villagers it would have sunk, pretty much. Now we’re getting a lot of people back from out of town who hadn’t been before or mostly would never have come back because of their previous experience.
“A lot of people don’t realise we’re here. It’s all about word of mouth but it’s getting around a bit now which is good for us. We have noticed a big improvement.”
As well as transforming inside, the pub garden at the back has been turned into an attractive spot with a play area.
“The beer garden was 6ft deep in rubbish and weeds. Ninety per cent of the villagers didn’t realise they had a beer garden here,” said Phil.
“We keep doing bit and bobs and adding to it when we can. I think most people in the village are pleasantly surprised at the place.”
Asked what appealed about the run-down, boarded-up pub, Emma added: “It was the challenge, because it was all closed down and had a bad reputation - it’s nice to flipside it, although it takes a while.”
One of the pub’s claims to fame is a link with the man who was instrumental in saving saving hundreds of lives when the Titanic sank.
Harold Cottam was a 21-year-old telegraphist who picked up the ship’s distress call when it hit an iceberg on the fateful night in April 1912, allowing RMS Carpathia to arrive on the scene hours before any other rescue boat. After retiring to Lowdham, he became a regular at the the Old Ship until he died aged 93 in 1984.
COUPLE ‘STARTED FROM SCRATCH’ – WHILE LOCALS PLAYED THEIR PART IN ADDING CHARACTER