A Portsmouth pub steeped in history has reopened with the new landlady looking to return it to its traditional roots.
The 5th Hants Volunteer Arms on Albert Road has reopened under the stewardship of Ally Wearn, who also runs The Lawrence Arms, much to the delight of locals.
She said: “We have tried to do as much as we can to give it a freshen up. We wanted to put a bit of the history back into it, so a lot of the pictures, the memorabilia, the lovely old photos of the pub, we have put on the walls with some new bits as well to give that homely pub vibe.
“The look of the pub is very much the pub I grew up in in the 80s where you had the public bar that was very practical and all about drinking good beer and you had the traditional snacks of pork pies and pickled eggs. Then the back bar which is a bit fancier and cosier so that is sort of what we have created here.”
She said: “We couldn't have wished for better, lots of people came, lots of people we knew but also lots of people that we had not met before. Loads of people that had memories or stories of the pub in the past which was really lovely.
“Everyone seemed to have that period of time, whether it was the 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s, where they drunk in the pub and for whatever reason hadn’t been back for a while. They were pleased to come back and relive their memories and the nostalgia of when they came in.”
One such customer was John Vaughn, 70, who was delighted to see the pub back open.
He said: “Albert Road really needs a pub like this. It used to be a fantastic pub and I’m sure it will be again now. There is all sorts of different pubs on this street but this is just what it needs, a traditional pub where you can come in and have a chat. I love the idea of the pork pies and the pickled eggs as well and a nice range of real ales. It’s exactly what the street needs.”
With the pub now up and running, the hard work to get the pub back up and running has all been worth it for Ally and her team.
“The nine days to get the pub open was quite a push and we were here till 1am on quite a few nights,” Ally said. ”Then Friday it was like ‘let’s just get open’ and I hadn't really thought about how well it would do. Once we started to work the weekend we were blown away with the people coming in. It was excellent, we couldn’t have wished for more.”
See inside the 5th Hants Volunteer Arms in the pictures below:
9. 5th Hants
Ally Wern, with bar staff, Louise Goldring. | National World Resell Photo: Habibur Rahman