The Maypole pub on Hayling Island reopens under new management and they have 'big plans'

The Maypole, on Havant Road, closed on December 31 last year, with its future in doubt.

But the pub reopened at midday on Friday, with curious punters popping in and friends of the new landlord and landlady on hand to support them

Taking on a pub is a long-held ambition for Julie and Jim Fear, who have been looking for a suitable place to take on for some time.

Jim said: ‘Julie’s got a really good relationship with the Fuller’s area manager and they had previously offered us two or three others that didn’t suit what we were looking, but then they offered us here.

‘It became clear that this was the last chance for The Maypole and we thought we could try and save it. It was a bit down at heel when we came in.’

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Julie added: ‘We didn’t really know Hayling Island before – I bought the children here in 2008, but that’s it. It’s quite a nice place and I’m really looking forward to the summer.

‘There’s huge scope for doing things here and we’ve got lots of plans.’

They will start serving ‘traditional home-cooked food’ sourced from local suppliers from February 3, with a special over-60s menu offer, two-for-one on fish and chips, and roast dinners on Sunday,

They also plan to have live music in the beer garden in the summer and want to allow motorhomes to park up overnight on their land.

Julie also runs The Boathouse In The Marina restaurant in Ferry Road, Littlehampton, but has previously worked for Fuller’s.

She said: ‘We’ve always talked about running a pub – we go to pubs all over the country, and we wanted to make it like somewhere that we would want to go.’

Keith and Ester Davis were among the first locals to return to the pub, along with their cockapoo, Teddi. Ester said: ‘We’ve been coming here for 40 years, so we’ve known quite a few landlords and landladies. Julie and Jim have been very welcoming – a nice friendly, chatty couple. I hope that people who were put off before come back and give it another chance.’