A BASINGSTOKE pub is back open for business, after new management took a five-year lease of the building.

The New Inn, on Sarum Hill, reopened to the public on September 1, after being taken over by Bob Todd, 60, of Reading.

Mr Todd and his partner, Shan, have run other pubs in the past, but wanted something on the edge of Basingstoke town centre, as opposed to their previous village locations.

“We have been negotiating the lease for ever so long because of Covid,” said Mr Todd.

“We have been chomping at the bit to get opened!”

The couple envisage the pub as a sports bar, with Sky TV showing major sporting events, cask ales on draft and, once they move in themselves and finish work on the building, they hope to serve “grazing style” food.

They also hope to run live music sessions in the future, when government guidelines allow.

“I love my cask ales. The temporary manager before told me cask ales wouldn’t sell, but we are getting some really nice comments,” said Mr Todd.

As of next week, the pub will be selling a brand new craft ale called Beaver Town with “funky glasses and cans” and is also partnering with Laithwaite’s to offer a selection of wines.

Basingstoke Gazette:

The pub closed last year, after the previous owner decided it was time to give it up.

Mr Todd said: “I know this pub has had a bit of a checkered past, open and close. There are a lot of people with memories of this pub, that this was wrong or that was wrong. But we will progress as we go.

“It’s all about brightening the place up, and improving and making it better.”

Talking about launching a new business during the pandemic, Mr Todd said: “We just have to try and make the best of it. The local people have been really supportive, so I have been pleasantly surprised.

“There are not that many pubs in the town, for a town Basingstoke’s size.

“I have heard some people say ‘I am not going back to pubs, I am buying some cans and sitting in the garden.’ But in the winter, they can’t sit in the garden. And for those that come out once a year, the pubs won’t be here anymore.”