TAKE A LOOK INSIDE PONTEFRACT COMMUNITY PUB FOLLOWING £320,000 MAKEOVER
The Travellers Rest in Featherstone, Pontefract officially reopened on Thursday 6th November following a transformational investment of nearly £320,000. The pub is part of Proper Pubs, the award‑winning community wet‑led operator division of Admiral Taverns, which operates more than 220 pubs across England, Scotland and Wales.
Inside, The Travellers Rest has been completely refreshed to breathe a new lease of life into the pub and create a vibrant, welcoming space across its separate lounge and games areas. The investment has resulted in a full internal refurbishment with brand new flooring, fixtures, fittings and furniture, alongside an enhanced audio-visual system complete with several flat screen televisions featuring Sky Sports, TNT Sports and horse racing channels. A new dedicated karaoke wall has also been installed, along with a pool table and two state of the art virtual darts boards in the games room for customers to enjoy.
Outside, guests are greeted with new lighting and signage, as well as additional external seating at the front of the pub and an upgraded garden area to the rear of the venue with brand new wooden benches that seat a total of 80 people.
To celebrate the reopening last Thursday, the pub hosted a champagne reception and buffet followed by a live performance from Andy and Tracey Lewin from the band ‘Face the Strange’.
The Travellers Rest will offer 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.
Simon Davies, Operator of The Travellers Rest, said: “We’re thrilled to have reopened the doors to the Travellers Rest and the response from the community has been incredible. Thanks to the refurbishment, we’ve been able to create a fantastic hub where people can come together to enjoy brilliant live sport and entertainment. We’re extremely grateful to everyone who has supported us on this journey, including the team at Proper Pubs, and we’re excited for all that’s to come.”
Moving forward, The Travellers Rest will host regular entertainment to bring the community together including Monday live music clubs, weekly bingo, quiz and pool nights as well as karaoke and live music every weekend. Simon and Gail will also be collecting food to donate to the local food bank and will be raising money for MacMillan in honour of a close friend currently battling cancer.
Nikki Greenhalgh, Operations Director for Proper Pubs, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Simon and Gail to The Travellers Rest, and it’s fantastic to see how supportive the community has been since the pub reopened. On behalf of the whole Proper Pubs team I’d like to thank everyone who came down last week to celebrate opening night and make it such a fantastic success. I wish our operators the very best of luck for this next chapter and look forward to seeing them continue to build momentum and create a vibrant social hub that can be enjoyed for many years to come.”
Proper Pubs is always looking for ways to support its communities through an annual schedule of events and fundraising initiatives and in March 2024, it was crowned Community Pub Operator at the Publican Awards. Most recently, the Group collected over 20,000 Easter Eggs to donate to communities in need and raised nearly £100,000 in just three months for various local charities across the UK. Last year, Proper Pubs also successfully donated enough food to local foodbanks across the UK to feed 1,300 people for a week and has also been recognised UK-wide defibrillator installation campaign which has already saved 11 lives.
Currently, operators across Proper Pubs’ estate are collecting as many selection boxes as possible to donate to local charities and communities in need this Christmas, as well as fundraising for Admiral Taverns’ charity partner, Claire House Hospice.
The Travellers Rest, Pontefract Road, Featherstone, Pontefract WF7 5AP, UK
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