Stoke by Clare pub, The Lion, to reopen after being taken over by two friends
Friends have teamed up to relaunch a historic village pub which they hope will become a hub for the community.
Carmen Eastwell and Sarah Giles will be reopening The Lion pub, in The Street, Stoke by Clare, on Friday.
The 17th-century inn, owned by Admiral Taverns, closed in May when the previous landlady moved on after seven months.
Now Carmen and Sarah, who have already invested £4,000 into the venue with more plans to come, are excited to be opening.
Carmen said: “I have known Sarah ever since she used to come into the Crown, in Linton, in 2018, where I was working and we became friends.
“We’ve both managed pubs in the past and decided to team up to take on The Lion. It’s a lovely historic pub with lots of potential.
“So far we have given it a deep clean, spruced up the bar area, the restaurant is nearly completed and we are also opening up a former living area as a sports bar with large screen television, league pool table and darts.
“The garden is massive and, in time, we hope to make the most of that as there aren’t many pubs with beer gardens in the area.”
Carmen, from Haverhill, was combining jobs as bar staff and teaching assistant while Sarah, from Cavendish, was a cleaner when they decided to team up.
They have both run pubs in the past, with Carmen managing The Crown, in Linton ,and Sarah in charge at The George, in Cavendish.
“The Lion did well under the last tenant but I think, as we are both local, we can improve things as we know a lot of people already and understand village life,” said Carmen.
“We want it to become a hub for the community and we have our family members helping out to start.
“For the launch party we will have the Robbie Gladwell Band and also bring in a pizza oven. Pizzas have always been popular at the pub so we’ve decided to keep them, with a new pizza oven, when we reopen, as well as other traditional pub food.
“We have lots of plans for the pub and are really looking forward to opening.”
