A tiny pub in Kent has avoided closure after one of its regulars bought the building and took over the business.
Paul Monroe has stepped in to save The Butcher’s Arms in Herne after founder Martyn Hillier decided to retire and the former butcher’s shop that houses the pub was put up for sale.
Monroe, 54, took over earlier this month after concerns that a developer wanted to buy the site. He said buying the building was the only way to keep the micropub going.
“This was the first micro pub in the world,” Monroe said.
“Just over 20 years ago, Martyn was running it as a takeaway bar and then opened it as a pub.
“It’s just a really nice environment, a very sociable place.
“I thought running the pub would be a great retirement job, but I’m not quite ready to retire yet.
“I’ve got my own business and I’m still doing that in the day, which is a bit of a challenge.
“But I will basically just go from drinking with my mates to serving them.”
Hillier opened The Butcher’s Arms in 2005 after a change in licensing laws allowed former shopfronts to be turned into drinking venues.
The pub measures 17 square metres and is located in a former butcher’s shop. More than 1,400 micropubs have opened across the country since The Butcher’s Arms launched, creating thousands of jobs in an industry estimated to be worth millions.
Monroe, who runs a design and production company, said the sale process began after the building’s owner died and left the property to his nephew and niece.
“Martyn was running the pub downstairs and the guy who owned the building lived upstairs,” he said.
“He died a few years back and left the house to his nephew and niece, and they decided to sell it.
“We just hoped someone from the pub would buy it, but there was word that a developer wanted to buy it.
“So I started the process of buying the premises, and I took over earlier this month.
“Buying the building was the only way to save it.
“But I can’t go drinking four or five pints every night… That would be dangerous.”
Hillier handed over the keys on the condition that the pub stay largely unchanged.
Monroe said he plans to open it more often and tidy up the front, but keep it much as it is.
“Eventually, we might do some bits and pieces,” Monroe said, “but the pub stays as the pub.
“We might even add a little beer garden or something, and I’ll tidy up the front a bit.
“But it’s sort of an unwritten rule that the pub stays the same.
“Before I put an offer in, I wanted to check Martyn had definitely had enough. He’s just lost interest.
“He said: ‘You run it’.
“Nearly every regular has offered to help out if I need it, and I trust every single one of them.
“They’re great people.”
Monroe moved to Herne six years ago and said the pub’s atmosphere kept him coming back.
“In the 20 years I’ve been drinking in there, I’ve never seen a fight or anything close to it,” he said.
“People are really interactive because they’re not on their phones.
“Because it’s real ale, the crowd is a bit older, but you do get some younger people in as well.
“I wouldn’t normally go into a pub on my own, but at The Butcher’s Arms, as soon as you sit down, people talk to you and you make friends instantly.
“I went down there to see what my locals were like when I first moved to the area, and have been going down regularly ever since.
“There’s no bar or anything; you all just sit in a giant circle. It works really well.
“No one seems to buy rounds. You just buy what you want, so you don’t have the person at the back who’s always late to buy their round.”
The Butcher’s Arms is currently open on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, and Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes. Monroe plans to open it more frequently. Drinkers buy pints or jugs of two or four pints to avoid having to ask the publican to get up and pour them another too often.
Read more from Talker News.
