Managed pub and bar operator TCG has invested £225,000 in one of its flagship community pubs, the Fatling in Hornchurch, Essex.
With a high profile location on Hornchurch High Street, the Fatling has been an icon of the town for many years. Previously the Fatling & Firkin, the pub is famed for live music, big screen sport and the great atmosphere created by the pub’s friendly team. The refurbishment is designed to develop the pub’s daytime trade, while ensuring it remains the town’s top evening destination.
The refurbishment has given the Fatling a brighter, welcoming feel, while also emphasising the pub’s history, which dates back to 1756. Traditional alehouse features such as barrels used as tables are mixed with ‘softer’ elements such as bunting and feature wallpaper, boosting the pub’s daytime appeal to local workers and shoppers wanting a quick lunch or reviving coffee.
With seating for a further 26 diners, and earlier opening to offer breakfast from 9.00 am, the Fatling is already attracting a broader range of customers. The refurbished facilities also include new toilets.
The Fatling’s new food menu offers traditional pub favourites such as burgers and fish & chips alongside sharing platters, salads and paninis. Food offers include a ‘2 mains for £9’ and a ‘2 for 1’ on desserts, while children’s meals at £3.95 have been introduced for the first time at the pub.
Cask ale is an important part of the Fatling’s drinks offer, with a bank of handpulls dispensing a rotating selection of local and regional ales, including a £2.50 pint from local Brentwood Brewery. Spitfire is also on permanently, in a nod to Hornchurch airfield, where the fighter planes were stationed. A new wine list has been introduced, retaining the pub’s best-selling offer of a bottle of Prosecco for £9.95.
TCG chief operating officer Nigel Wright comments, “The Fatling has long been one of the jewels in our community estate, thanks to the outstanding work by general manager Sandy Castle to put the pub at the heart of Hornchurch.
“The refurbishment will help this already successful pub to compete more effectively and take a bigger share of the local daytime trade. We’re confident that every penny we’ve invested in the Fatling will be repaid with not only incremental sales but enormous local goodwill.”
Castle added, “We’re delighted with the Fatling’s new look. It’s good to reward our many long-standing regulars with an improved ‘local’ for them to enjoy, and we’ve started to see many of them coming in on new occasions, to dine with their families, for example, in addition to drinking with friends or watching the sport.
“The Fatling has always been Hornchurch’s No.1 spot for evening socialising and our sights are now set on making it the best daytime pub as well.”
The Fatling has established itself as a hub of Hornchurch life. It sponsors three local football teams and has raised over £4,000 for Cancer Research UK, while Castle has been closely involved in the town’s regeneration project.
Earlier this year, TCG spent a total of £400,000 on refurbishments at the Sailors Arms in Newquay and Squares in Nottingham, to grow their daytime trade. Food sales have grown by 100% and 30% respectively at the two sites.
Caption to attached image the team at the Fatling at Hornchurch (l-r) general manager Sandy Castle; deputy manager Aurora.Hoskins; Maureen McCulloch; Sue Rowe; Ashley Deane and regional operations manager Mark Nield
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Notes to editors:
- TCG operates a diverse estate of 69 managed pubs and bars nationwide.
- The business has a strong foothold in London, with high-profile sites such as the flagship Tattershall Castle floating bar and restaurant on the Embankment.
· The estate stretches across the country from Aberdeen to Newquay, and from Cardiff to Norwich. It includes late night bars, community and sports locals, student venues and quality town centre pubs, as well as a number of trading formats, such as the Henry’s Café Bar brand, Eerie Pubs and the King’s Feast food concept.
Issued on behalf of: TCG
By: ShielPorter Communications
Further information: Ros Shiel: ros@shielporter.com / 07841 694137
John Porter: john@shielporter.com / 07734 054389