Fareham pub The Lord Arthur Lee set to reopen after Wetherspoons sale

The Lord Arthur Lee in West Street had its last day of trading as a Wetherspoons pub on April 28 with the sale completed on May 3. It had been put under offer after being put up for sale for £400,000 at the end of last year after it was put on a list of 32 pubs the chain was planning to offload. 

The 9,129sqft pub, which is retaining The Lord Arthur Lee name, is now due to reopen on Friday May 10 with family chain The Pub Group named on its social media page as the new owners. A post from the new owners on social media today said: “We Hope your long weekend was wonderful. We’ve been busy getting the pub ready for the reopening.

“We’ve been having a little paint and a few other minor maintenance works going on behind the scenes. We can’t wait to get the doors re-opened for you all to enjoy your loved pub.”

A previous post said: “We can’t wait to meet you all when we reopen the doors as an independent family pub company. We want to assure you all that we intend to carry on with the great service Wetherspoons has given you over the many years.

“We hope to become more of a traditional family run pub still offering great value for money drinks and food.”

The new owners are also on the lookout for new members of staff, including part-time and full-time bar staff, a general manager and a cleaner. A new food and drink menu will also be available to customers.

The pub opens for breakfast from 8am, with lunch served at midday and dinner up to 9pm. A Sunday roast will be available every Sunday from midday to 8pm alongside the normal menu. 

A Wetherspoons spokesperson said there were no redundancies with staff given the option to transfer to the new owners or stay with Wetherspoon.