City pub completes £140k garden makeover despite energy dispute

11-Jan-2024 - Last updated on 11-Jan-2024 at 09:01 GMT

Before and after: The Queens Head pub in Pinner has completed its garden "transformation"

A Greene King owned pub in northwest London has completed its £140,000 garden refurb after plans were paused when E.ON rejected an application to extend the site’s supply.

The Queens Head in Pinner, Uxbridge, which is part of Greene King’s tenanted and leased division, applied for an energy supply extension as part of the renovation plans last summer.

However, the request was initially rejected after the energy supplier’s boss deemed the hospitality sector “too high risk to invest in”, despite the operator having been a customer of E.ON’s for eight years and signing a 15-year lease at the site shortly before the application.

Speaking to The Morning Advertiser (MA) in July 2023, leaseholder Sean White, explained: “At the moment, we have a 100-amp supply and we're using 97 of those amps, so we needed the additional supply [for heating and lighting].”

Over the moon

Though the £140,000 investment has since been completed, with a newly built wall now separating the pubs garden from its car park alongside a new raised patio and retractable pergola.

In addition, the garden’s entrance, lighting, foliage and signage has also been updated.

White said: “I am over the moon with the transformation of our garden. Thanks to the raised patio and retractable pergola we can now enable use of the garden all year round.

“The new external lighting and foliage makes the garden very appealing to be in too. I cannot wait for the summer and beer garden season to see it at its very best.”

Growing trade

The number of outdoor covers has also been increased thanks to new furniture throughout and improved tradeable garden space, which was last year predicted to create two new jobs at the award-winning pub.

Last summer, White estimated the investment from Greene King would enable the wet-led site to service an additional 120 covers, equating to an estimated 9% extra turnover.

Managing director of Greene King Pub Partners Dan Robinson added: “This garden transformation elevates what is already a very popular pub by growing trade through the garden and increased covers.

“Time and time again Sean has shown he is up there with the very best operators in our trade. I look forward to continuing our brilliant relationship with him in years to come.”