New dog friendly alehouse, The Drayton Tavern, looks to create a friendly environment for locals to build a community

Dean Boswell, from Cosham, opened The Drayton Tavern on March 1, serving a selection of craft beers and ales on Havant Road. It is Dean’s first foray into the pub business with the idea coming to him after realising there was a lack of options for people to meet up for a drink in Drayton after The Manor closed its doors in November 2023.

Dean said: “When The Manor closed there wasn't anywhere really in the area to go. Me and my dad were out one day and we were talking about how it would be great to have something in the Drayton/Cosham area, somewhere where you could get craft beers and real ales.

“I ended up losing sleep over it, and the rest is history, I started looking into opening a micro pub.”

Having been open two weeks it has had a good response from the public with a few locals already starting to become regulars. The pub stocks drinks from local breweries such as Staggeringly Good, Southsea Brewing Co., Urban Island, and Powder Monkey, as well as a number of other guest beers.

Dean wants to create a welcoming space for people to socialise with dogs and children welcome. He said: “I think it's a great way to get people back in the high street and it's just creating a nice environment for people. If they're with children or if they have dogs, they're more than welcome to come in and just chill out, talk to other people, socialise. Hopefully we can create a community.”

While he has not run a pub before, he has been inspired by a number of local micro pubs, especially West Street Ale House in Fareham.

A previous job in Gosport saw him frequent it every other week. He said: “It was always a really good atmosphere, people were in their kids and dogs and I really liked that. I think subconsciously that got my head ticking and thinking it would be really good to have something like that in Drayton.”

After working in a few different jobs over the years, he is excited to be his own boss and doing something that he is passionate about. He said: “I am very excited to be up and running, and I’m happy with how it is going. It feels really great to be my own boss and I look forward to getting up and seeing what in store for the day.”

The Drayton Tavern is open 2pm to 10pm Tuesday to Friday, 12pm to 10pm on Saturday and 12pm to 5pm on Sunday.

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