The Fox Inn at Honington, near Bury St Edmunds, reopens with new landlord Ryan O’Shea

The new landlord of a village pub has said he will do his best to ‘keep it alive’ with the support of the community.

Ryan O’Shea is the new landlord of the Fox Inn at Honington, near Bury St Edmunds, which was closed for around 10 months.

Formerly a publican in Colchester, Essex, he said he saw the pub and liked the demographic of the area and ‘couldn’t see any reason why that pub is closed’.

The pub is ‘free of tie’, which means it is not tied to a specific brewery or pub company, and reopened about three weeks ago.

Mr O’Shea, who is the leaseholder, describes the Fox as a ‘community pub that’s going to put on as many events as possible’.

“We will do everything from poker nights to quiz nights and fundraising for the local community to pool nights and darts,” he said. “We are hoping to get a darts team.”

The Fox Inn, in Troston Road, is in close proximity to RAF Honington and Mr O’Shea said those from the RAF station were already coming down and supporting it.

He also said there had been a lot of messages of support from the public on the pub’s Facebook page, and added: “I said we will only survive given the support of the local community.”

He said they were hoping to make the pub as ‘busy as we possibly can’. “Pubs are going through such a difficult time and there are so many of them closing down,” he added.

“We will do the best we can for this and see if we can keep it alive. I’m hopeful, especially with the support we have got so far.”

New additions to the pub since Mr O’Shea has taken over include two large TVs, with the intention of screening Sky Sports, and the partition has been taken down to have a big, open plan bar, which ‘everyone is loving’, the landlord said.

Work has also been under way to get the garden – which Mr O’Shea described as a ‘great space’ - ready for next summer.

Mr O’Shea also mentioned the wine menu, which has a range from middle-of-the-road wines right up to the best wines, at £50 a bottle.

“There are people coming in here now who said they would never drink wine in a pub normally and now they love the wine menu,” he added.

There are also 63 gins behind the bar and, from the end of the month, customers will be able to order food. Mr O’Shea described it as a ‘hearty’ and ‘traditional’ menu using fresh produce.

The Fox Inn is open seven days a week, from 3pm.