We had intended to open as soon as the kitchen was completed, but the unfortunate closure of 'The Checkers' left Ropley with no village pub compelling us to rethink our strategy. We felt the best plan was to finish the bar, 'tart up' the existing, if somewhat insufficient, toilet facilities, erect a cheap marquee to serve as a temporary smoking shelter and confine the on-going refurbishment of the kitchen, accommodation and outdoor areas to non-opening hours.
This enabled us to open the pub on Friday 13th February 2009 in what can only be described as a limited capacity and therefore ask for your patience and understanding if some of the facilities you were expecting are not yet available.
Once the kitchen has been completed, we plan to serve simple bar food, but the menu will probably be extended as we become more established. We intend to be child friendly and hope to put a children’s playground in the garden and serve a wide selection of soft drinks.
We plan to have live music every Saturday night. If you have any suggestions of bands you would like us to book, please let us know and we will see what we can do. The Function Room (for those of you who know it) will, for the foreseeable future, remain as is. It is our intention to make this available for Private Functions, i.e. Weddings, Children’s Parties, Birthday Parties, Club Meetings, etc.
Subject to planning permission we intend to demolish the outhouse/post office (hopefully before it falls down) to make way for the much needed improved toilet facilities which will include a separate disabled toilet.
