Pair take on their third city hostelry (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Pair take on their third city hostelry

4:39pm Thursday 9th July 2009 in

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TWO publicans have bucked the national trend by taking on yet another Winchester premises.

Clive Mansell and Hannah Walter have taken over The Queen Inn, their third hostelry in the city, at a time when the pace of pub closures in the UK is accelerating.

The duo, who reopened the inn in Kingsgate Road last week, already manage The Bell in St Cross and The Fulflood Arms.

“The attraction with The Queen Inn is that it’s quite unique in that it has a large garden and it’s still in the town and it’s in a quiet, secluded area,” said Mr Mansell, whose son, Andy, helps the pair manage the pubs.

“We want to get away from the factory pubs that pile it high and sell it cheap. We want to offer something different.”

He added that he also wanted to utilise one of the pub’s key selling points, a large garden to the rear.

But around three quarters of it is owned by Winchester College and, in a consultation document released in March, it said its preferred option was “to develop the land to the rear of The Queen Inn and adjoining Norman Road for housing”.

Greene King did have a lease on the garden but that has now expired, which means it now rents the space from the college on a monthly basis.