Delight as pub starts repouring the pints

A POPULAR pub in Charlton Kings has reopened its doors after the previous licensees were forced to close two months ago.

The Little Owl, in Cirencester Road, has been taken over by Tracey Rumble and Kevin Carter, who boast 15 years’ experience in the trade.

Regulars were left scratching their heads in June when the inn suddenly closed, but it later emerged that the previous tenants, who ran three other pubs in the county, had filed for bankruptcy.

But staff at the Enterprise Inns pub, which boasts a brand new function room, are pulling pints once again.

The new owners say they hope to drive business back up at the once-thriving venue.

Tracey, 45, said: “We are looking forward to welcoming regular customers back.

“It is a great pub which has got bags of potential. We’ll be looking to bring in more real ales and will be serving home-cooked food, sourced from local producers.

“It’s good to see a lot of the locals are already flooding back.

“We hope to see more as people realise we are back open again.”

The new licensees are holding an official reopening party tomorrow, with free food and live music, and will be kicking off their food menu with a carvery at Sunday lunchtime.

Kevin, 36, said: “As soon as we saw the Little Owl was available, we thought it looked like a great venue. It has always been a successful pub and it looks like there were other reasons why it closed before.

“We just want to get it back to where it should be – a successful local pub.”

The pub, which is named after the winner of the 1981 Cheltenham Gold Cup, underwent a £20,000 revamp as recently as last year.

But former tenants David McLean and Jan Minett, who also ran The Shutter Inn in Gothertington, Ye Olde Hobnails Inn in Little Washbourne, and The Orchard in Quedgeley, admitted the financial climate had proved “too much”, forcing them to close.

The quartet of pubs have now reopened their doors following changes of licensees.

Vicky Averis, a spokeswoman for Enterprise Inns, said she was delighted the venue had reopened so soon after the closure.

The pub’s official reopening party starts tomorrow night at 7.30pm.