Arkell’s Brewery’s The Talbot Inn has been snapped up by five local businessmen and will reopen next month after a full refurbishment.
The large, ‘cosy but quirky’ pub, which sits on Cirencester’s Victoria Road, has been an Arkell’s pub since 1877, but has been closed since previous landlord and landlady Dave and Ann Holliss retired in October last year. Rumours began to circulate that it was going to be another pub converted into a house or flats; there was even town talk that it was to become a Japanese restaurant or an Irish folk music venue.
Arkell’s Brewery, which owns 92 pubs across its home county of Wiltshire, as well as in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Hampshire, is pleased to confirm that the lease has been taken on by five Cirencester businessmen. The group intends to operate The Talbot as a “pub with great beer and dining, alongside excellent bed and breakfast, as it was intended,” said a spokesperson for the group taking over the inn.
George Arkell said: “We were really worried when Dave and Ann retired that, in the current climate, we would not find a new landlord for The Talbot. However, we are really excited to have a new team investing in a local community pub.”
The group spokesperson added: “There are some great restaurants and hotels in Cirencester, one very close to us at The Talbot, Ingleside and Teatro, and a smattering of pubs, but every time you look around, we are losing one. The Talbot has history and character and we are confident that, with the team we have, we will return it to being a thriving community pub. Arkell’s has been fantastic and has put a considerable amount into the pot to help us realise what we want to achieve.
“Now all we have to do is open our freshly painted doors and welcome you in, but we are not quite ready for that yet. An opening date will be announced very soon — we promise.”
For Arkell’s Brewery, visit www.arkells.com, call 01793 823026 or email: arkells@arkells.com
