TAKE A LOOK INSIDE HAVANT PUB FOLLOWING TRANSFORMATIONAL £300,000 MAKEOVER
The Swallow on Dunsbury Way in Havant reopened last Friday 28th March following a transformational investment of over £300,000. The pub is part of Proper Pubs – the award-winning community wet-led operator division of Admiral Taverns, which operates more than 200 pubs across England, Scotland and Wales.
Kasey Jones, Operator of The Whale, said: “I’m over the moon to be at the helm of The Swallow and to have been a part of such an exciting refurbishment project! Reopening night was fantastic and I loved being able to finally show off the pub’s brand new look and all that it has to offer the community.”
Inside, The Swallow has been completely transformed with brand new flooring, furniture, fixtures and fittings throughout to brighten the overall look and feel of the pub. In addition, the two separate rooms within the pub have been combined to create one spacious, open-plan area. One half of The Swallow now hosts a match-sized pool table for the local teams to use, alongside a large flat screen television, whilst the other half boasts two flat screen televisions complete with Sky and TNT Sports, a darts area and a pool table.
Outside, The Swallow has received brand new lighting and signage to greet visitors, a cosy beer garden to the rear of the site – complete with heaters, festoon lights and a covered area – as well as a seating area at the front of the pub for customers to enjoy.
To celebrate the reopening, The Swallow hosted a live DJ set in the evening on Friday 28th March, an exciting performance from a local live band from 8pm on Saturday 29th and a day of screening the live sports on Sunday 30th March. This was swiftly followed by a meat raffle and an evening of karaoke to round off the jam-packed weekend.
The Swallow offers a wide range of drinks promotions, including Wine Wednesday, where customers can get £2 off a bottle, Fizz Friday, offering customers a bottle of fizz for £10, along with cocktails, bottle and shot deals throughout the week.
Kasey added: “I’d like to thank everyone at Proper Pubs for their incredible support throughout this process and helping to bring the vision to life. I’ve loved every second of being behind the bar of The Swallow so far and I can’t wait for all that’s to come.”
On top of the fantastic drinks selection, Kasey will be hosting a busy schedule of live entertainment throughout the week including live music, quizzes, DJ sets, ‘rock n roll’ bingo and karaoke to bring local residents together. She is also committed to supporting all aspects of community life by collecting food to donate to the local foodbank as well as raising money to have a lifesaving defibrillator installed.
Moving forward, the operator hopes to support mental health charity, Mind, through hosting a series of fundraising events and will also look for ways, such as hosting coffee mornings, to combat loneliness within the community to ensure fellow members of the community do not feel isolated.
Matthew Gurney, Operations Director for Proper Pubs, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Kasey to The Swallow and it’s great to see the result of this fantastic refurbishment. She brings so much passion and energy to the pub and I’m confident she will be able to create a welcoming social hub that sits at the heart of Havant.
On behalf of myself and the whole team at Proper Pubs, we would like to wish our community hero, Kasey, the very best for all that’s to come for this incredible pub.”
Proper Pubs is always looking for ways to support its communities through an annual schedule of events and fundraising initiatives. In March 2024, it was crowned Community Pub Operator at the Publican Awards. More recently, the Group collected 16,000 advent calendars to donate to communities in need and raised nearly £100,000 in just three months for various local charities across the UK. In September 2024, Proper Pubs successfully donated enough food to local foodbanks across the UK to feed 1,300 people for a week and has also been recognised for its UK-wide defibrillator installation campaign which has already saved 11 lives.
Currently, operators across Proper Pubs’ estate are collecting as many Easter Eggs as possible to donate to local charities and worthy community causes.
