Beloved Fareham pub that closed before New Year's Eve amid struggles reopens

The new landlady of The Fareham in Trinity Street has announced on social media the pub opened on Wednesday.

Tina Giles, the new licensee, said on Wednesday: “If all goes well, we will be reopening today. I look forward to welcoming you all.”

The pub closed before New Year’s Eve after the previous landlord, Bear Whittingham, revealed it had struggled to attract enough customers before deciding to call time on the business. The pub had reopened in December 2023 under a new landlady who was full of optimism for its future.

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It followed the sudden closure of the venue due to financial struggles, with its previous landlords also closing the pub saying that rising business costs had left them with no other choice.

Before closing at the end of 2024, Ms Whittingham said they did everything they could to attract customers with live music and its food offering but “simply didn’t get enough custom through the door”.

She had planned to close the doors after New Year’s Eve but called time after one final hurrah on December 28. A social media post the following day said: “Thank you too everyone who’s supported us over this last year with our journey at The Fareham Pub we appreciate you all.

“It’s been a pleasure serving you all. We have tried our best with everything and it’s such a shame our time has come to an end we will miss you all. Here’s to us and all our hard work.”

A previous statement said: “We at The Fareham Pub would like to thank everyone that supported us over the past year. We will be shutting our doors (January 1) so let’s meet up new year and go out with a bang. All bands will be contacted that are booked for the new year but just before rumours get about we wanted to let you know we will be closing our doors.”

The pub is part of the Stonegate pub.