Customers choose ‘new’ name for latest Joseph Holt pub
The Manchester-based business, which is celebrating its 175thanniversary this year, has bought what was Thornberries pub in Alkrington Green – and the overwhelming response has been for the venue to revert to its original name of the Roebuck. It will serve cask ales and food.
Joseph Holt pub director Mark Norbury said: “When we bought Thornberries, we really wanted customers to play a key part in rejuvenating this popular pub and we were inundated with responses.
“Despite a wide range of suggestions, the Roebuck was the clear winner with so many wanting the pub to go back to its original name.
Respectful of heritage
“Joseph Holt has been in the same family for six generations and, as an independent company, we are hugely respectful of heritage and tradition, as well as the needs of our customers.
“With the pub regaining its original name, we’re thrilled the past is being acknowledged in the exciting future of the pub as it undergoes a full refurbishment.”
Norbury added Joseph Holt, which already owns 127 pubs across the north-west of England, said the company constantly looks for places where there is a ‘gap’ in the geography of its estate so Thornberries was an obvious addition to the Joseph Holt portfolio.
Full overhaul
He said: “Although we already own pubs in Blackley and Middleton, we didn`t have one in Alkrington Green. Joseph Holt is a family business and location is so important to us in terms of being at the heart of the community.”
Following the £1.5m purchase, the Roebuck will reopen following a full overhaul inside and out, optimising existing unused space as well as creating a beer garden.
Norbury added: “Thornberries, like so many of our pubs, has been a place for charity events, social groups and other community gatherings – all the things that mark out our pubs as places that are central to the local areas they serve.”
