Premier Hospitality

Boars Head

Boars Head
Written by Roma Publications

Boars Head – Historic hostelry’s new lease of life

Boars Head

Newly re-opened and already proving popular, the historic Boars Head on Elton Head Road in St Helens has been impressively and comprehensively refurbished by Bravo Inns, who saved it from demolition.

Plans to pull down the building and replace it with a large food store and smaller retail unit had been approved by the council planners before the last-minute reprieve from Bravo Inns.

The pub, believed to be one of the oldest in St Helens, has been dramatically transformed throughout and the external beer garden has also been re-instated.

Main Contractors for the project were Inn Design and Contracts Ltd, who have been highly commended for their work.

Ken Buckley managing director of Bravo Inns said: “The main contractors did an excellent job – absolutely first class. They have already completed around 50 jobs for us over the years.

“We have known the company and the subcontractors involved for a long time and we are absolutely delighted with their work.”

He went on to recount the events leading to the acquisition of the Boar’s Head: “I previously worked for Greenalls brewery for 35 years and the Boar’s Head is a Greenalls house which I remember from the old days as being a good pub. I had my eye on it for a few years and we took it over in January 2016, after it had been closed for some time and was scheduled for demolition. This is in line with our policy of acquiring only pubs which require full refurbishment, as this is generally more profitable.

Boars Head

“The pub itself was not in a bad condition, but the interior was ‘tired’ and in need of complete renovation.”

The beautifully refurbished interior now includes a tap room area, a pool room and two new darts areas

Ken Buckley continued: “We used our own particular design format for the interior, which includes tongue and groove woodwork, moveable seating only (any existing fixed seating is always removed in our pubs), a combination of timber and carpeting floor finishes and a colour palette mainly featuring sage green. Our style is also very sport-focused and we always include prominent TV coverage of major sporting events.

“Almost everything within the interior has been renewed, including the flooring, electrics, plastering decor, lighting, fixtures, fittings and furniture. We also installed a new kitchen for preparing bar snacks, and fully refurbished the toilets to a high standard.

“In addition, we extended the bar, installed new bar back fittings and refurbished the manager’s accommodation (a three bedroom flat on the upper floor), as well as carrying out general repairs throughout the building, bringing it up to tip-top condition.”

Externally, new signage and lighting has been installed and the building exterior has been re-painted.

The beer garden was also reinstated as it was very overgrown, and was designed around a retained cherry tree which had been planted many years ago. A heated external social area which includes a 60 inch TV was also added.

The pub is being managed by Lorraine and Martin Allright, who previously managed Bravo Inns The Little Pig.

“We aim to become a focal point for the local community and have had tremendous interest from them, which is very encouraging – in fact we have already had 13,500 hits regarding the Boar’s Head on Facebook. We re-opened only recently and the pub is already proving very popular,” said Ken Buckley

Warrington-based Bravo Inns Limited are committed to breathing life back into community pubs throughout their area.

Led by a small, dedicated and highly experienced management team, the company now manage 36 community pubs in North Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria. Many of these pubs were closed before Bravo stepped in.

Boars Head

I D & C (Northwest) Limited

Inn Design & Contracts Ltd known as I D & C (Northwest) Limited was established in 1986 and quickly developed into one of the North West’s Premier Contractors, specialising in the design and refurbishment of licensed premises – pubs, clubs and hotels.

The design team, headed up by an architect and interior designer, have extensive experience and skills enabling them to undertake projects from designing individual single specific items to more complex full refurbishment projects.

The company offer a full turnkey operation, which includes design, manufacturing and installation, project management and financial advice – all tailored to their client’s budget.

Clients of I D & C (Northwest) Limited include Bravo Inns, Admiral Taverns, LACE (Liverpool Archdiocesan Centre for Evangelisation) and the Puffin Pub Company.

The company recently worked on The Boars Head where they undertook the full refurbishment.

George Shing from I D & C (Northwest) Limited commented: “We have a good working relationship with Bravo Inns and we cater for their needs to their specification. As a company we pride ourselves on the finished result. We have pride in our workmanship to gain customer satisfaction and happy clients.”

 

About the author

Roma Publications