This Saturday, 18th March, will see The Packhorse pub mark the fifth anniversary of reopening under community ownership.
Photo © The Packhorse, Bath
The celebrations will start at 11am, with the first 50 people visiting getting their first drink on the house.
The historic 400-year-old Packhorse pub in South Stoke reopened to the public in March 2018 following years of campaigning, fundraising and refurbishment after the pub’s closure.
At 12pm on Saturday, local resident Brian Perkins will cut the cake to mark the first five years of community ownership.
Brian was born in the pub in 1930, with his family running the establishment for many years. He was also the first to pour a pint when it reopened in 2018.
The celebration will also feature live music at 3pm and 7pm.
Since reopening, the pub has gone through 903 casks of real ale, 160 casks and 3,500 bottles of Honey’s Midford cider, more than 27,000 bags of crisps and 15,700 bottles of wine.
The pub’s project lead, Dom Moorhouse has spoken about the last five years.
He said: “We had no idea in 2018 what was to follow with respect to world events (Covid and Ukraine in recent years), we are genuinely delighted to have navigated our way through these travails – as they have made cost/margin management even more challenging.
“In financial summary, we have exceeded revenue targets but, against such rising costs, our net profit is below expectation of the sterile business plan five years ago.
“Importantly, perhaps forged by such challenges, we do feel we have now built a secure operation that can survive long into the future.
“Critically, against the KPI of guest satisfaction we are very pleased. On many social platforms, the Packhorse is very highly appreciated and user rated and our many awards testify to this.
“Whilst we never want to become complacent here, these early plaudits validate that we are getting much right with respect to the food offer and overall ambience/service.
“The original team often joke that if we knew – as with hindsight we now do – just quite how much work was involved in a project such as this we would have gone nowhere near it. Certainly, not for the faint-hearted.
“It only takes one great sing-along in the saloon bar, or a blissful day in the summer garden, to realise it was worth it in spades!”
People are invited to attend the celebration this Saturday, 15th March, from 11am.
