Hampshire country pub to celebrate landlord's first year

Ben Hathaway, 44, took over the Sun Inn on Winchester Road last November.

He told the Advertiser: “It’s been very hard work, but we’ve put lots of things in place and tried to make it as busy as we can with what we’ve got.

“It’s such a challenging time, isn’t it, so we’ve put some extra bits and pieces in the pub and changed the menu and got more entertainment in and karaoke and pensioner specials and a kids menu and the garden’s been redone.

Ben Hathaway is celebrating one year of running the Sun Inn (Image: Ben Hathaway)“I think being a landlord is either in you or it’s not. I’ve enjoyed all of my time there to be honest, it’s something that has been a part of me for a very long time.

"I’ve been part of entertainment for ages, I worked at the Concorde Club and done lots of different things within the industry, so it really suits me. And it’s not a massive pub, it’s quite intimate, so you get to know your customers quite easily, so it’s been a quite friendly place to work and visit.”

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To celebrate the anniversary, The Sun Inn is holding a special celebratory buffet on Saturday, November 11, with a special live performance by the band The Corsairs from 9pm onwards.

Ben said: “It is going to be a very busy night for us.

The garden has been redone since Ben took over the Sun Inn (Image: Ben Hathaway)“I want to thank the staff, who have been these since day one, and the customers new and old.

"A lot of hard work has been put into the pub, and the customers have given a lot of feedback and have given us a lot of continued support. And we get new people in all the time.

“It’s just lovely.”