Landlady proud to reopen Wickham country pub – six months after it shut its doors

Amazingly new landlady Sara Pollard-Dambach has also gone through a turbulent few years, due to a bone infection that left her using a wheelchair in 2017.

The 33-year-old, from Hayling Island, has not let her illness stop her – and through determination she has bounced back, setting up a successful catering business and also having her second child Olivia-Rose earlier this year, and is now proudly standing behind the bar of her new business.

Sara, who has taken over the Roebuck with husband Oliver, said: ‘I have gone from being in a wheelchair to running a pub, it’s an amazing achievement. I am going to put my all into this venture and see where it takes us.'

The pub, which opened in 1820 along the A32 near Wickham, closed in February when its previous landlord went out of business stating a ‘lack of trade’. It has been empty ever since, until the building’s owner got in touch with Sara and Oliver after hearing about their catering firm McDambie's at Seacourt.

Sara said: ‘We had a phone call out of the blue saying "how would we like to run a pub?” It needed someone to inject some life into it. We visited it the next day and fell in love with it.

‘We spent two weeks getting it ready and making it Covid secure. Our staff have been incredible. They have been working for free and helping us to get it ready, we really appreciate their hard work.

‘It had been closed for a while and had not been looked after so we needed to clean it from top to bottom. It has been hard work.’

The pub had undergone a £60,000 refit the year before, which had seen its kitchen overhauled and four bedrooms renovated upstairs for use as a bed and breakfast.

With help from Oliver’s parents, Rosie and Chris Dambach, the pub opened on Monday, with Oliver starting up a new menu of wholesome pub grub including venison burgers, pork schnitzels and serving Sara’s signature gluten and dairy free chocolate brownie.

Sara says they have been grateful for the support so far.

She said: ‘It is lovely here. It is beautiful. It has been non-stop. There have been an awful lot of challenges, but we are doing it. I am so proud.’