Ring o' Bells new owner Liam Mulgrew

Lancaster Guardian

Ring o' Bells new owner Liam Mulgrew talks about his plans for the pub.

Transcript

00:00Afternoon folks, my name is Liam Mulgrew and I'm just doing a quick video so that I can

00:08introduce myself as the person who's taken on the Ring of Bells in Lancaster. I'm very,

00:17very excited for the opportunity. The reason for doing it on a video is just because I

00:22kind of just wanted to, I don't know, it just feels a bit more personal, just kind of saying

00:26hello, it's me. Yeah, I did try to set it up as a live but unfortunately Facebook

00:34isn't letting me do it because apparently the business profile isn't old enough. I don't

00:37know. Yeah, but anyways, so yeah, my name is Liam. I'm taking on the Ring of Bells in Lancaster

00:45from Tom at Fat Properties. Fantastic opportunity for myself. We've talked about it for a little

00:55while now, back and forth and we're finally going for it. So yeah, I'm really, really

01:01excited. The response that we've had on Facebook from our first initial post just saying, you

01:09know, watch the space that we're opening, stuff like that, has been absolutely incredible.

01:15The amount of likes, shares and comments, it's amazing and just shows that, you know, people,

01:20it's a pub that people love, it's a pub that's, you know, close to people's hearts and they

01:26want to see it back open and it's lovely to be able to be a part of that. Just a couple

01:34of quick ones. The reason why it's taken me so long to kind of do like an introduction

01:39is just because there's still a few things that need ironing out behind the scenes and

01:44anyone who knows me knows I have a habit of kind of just going full steam ahead once I

01:50get an idea into my head. So I was kind of holding back for that. One of the reasons why

01:54I'm coming forward now though is because quite a few people have managed to Sherlock Holmes

01:59it and figure out that it is me. So yeah, I just figured I'd come forward, just say a quick

02:06hello and do a broad kind of quick outline in scope of what we kind of have planned for

02:12the place. Ring of Bells is, again, I think it's a fantastic pub, been in a few times whilst

02:19I've been in Lancaster and of course everyone knows about the beautiful beer garden. Again,

02:25it's an exciting opportunity but also a nervous one purely because of how many people are really,

02:33really passionate about that place. So it's, there are some big shoes to fill, definitely.

02:38Obviously, it's been shut for quite a few years now so we are having to start from scratch with it

02:43but like you've already shown by the, by the following on Facebook, there's a lot of love for

02:48that place. The only thing that I, that I will say is, you know, there will be, there will be stuff that

02:54is going to be different from how you remember it. Some of that is because obviously it's, it's

02:59someone different, it's myself, it's a new person who, who is at the helm of it and everyone who,

03:06you know, when you take on a pub, they, they have their own ideas and their own stamp that they want

03:11to make with it but I, I love hospitality, I love the industry and again that is a, that is a venue

03:19that I really, really can't wait to get my teeth into. Some of the ideas that people have put forward

03:24as well have been fantastic. Again, it's just lovely to see people passionate about it.

03:29Things do take time so at the moment, my main focus is getting it ready to get open

03:35which we are planning to do on the 28th of November. We will have that set up as an event

03:41on Facebook as well. Again, once I find out some details behind the scenes and once I've got

03:46everything in line for what I'm wanting to do for the opening weekend and then, then we'll,

03:51you know, we'll push it and we'll advertise it and we look forward to seeing people there.

03:56We will be respectful to people's memories that they have for the place. Like I said, we're not

04:03trying, it's a new chapter for the Ring of Bells but we're not trying to erase the past that that

04:09place has. I don't see the point in trying to do so anyways and again, I just, you know, you just

04:15upset a lot of people but one of the things that, you know, is prevalent to me that,

04:21there's been a lot of landlords and landladies that have been there. People speak quite highly

04:26of them just in casual conversation, you know, it's quite often brought up, you know,

04:31oh, when so-and-so had it, oh, when so-and-so had it and it's just people, people have a lot

04:34of love for it. So, we will pay our respects best that we can. We do have a goal and a direction

04:41that we're wanting to take it in but at its heart, it will be, you know, somewhere that we hope to

04:46have its own community and its own following. It's going to be like a community hub is what

04:54we want to do. Yeah, in terms of some of the events that we'll be doing there, again, I'm going

05:00to kind of keep that to myself just a little bit for now but we will be introducing stuff like live

05:04music. You know, there'll be potential for like quiz night, stuff like that. We've got a lot of

05:09ideas and a lot of scope for it. Yeah, and again, we're just really, really excited and

05:15yeah, just kind of overwhelmed by the response that it's had which is really, really good

05:20and we are looking forward to it and hopefully, you know, now that I've come forward and said

05:27that it's me, hopefully people are still looking forward to it to get back open. I've been in

05:32hospitality since I was 18. I haven't done anything else really. I love the industry

05:38like I've said and I quite love running pubs and the potential that the Ring of Bells has

05:43got is just, again, it's amazing and I'm really, really, really excited that I get to be a part

05:49of that. So, yeah. Yeah, fantastic. So, that's it. So, there we go. That's the introduction.

05:59Look forward to seeing you all when we do get back open. In the meantime, do feel free

06:07to pop on in. We've got another pub down on the quay, the Georgian Dragon. If you want to

06:12come in and say hello and get to meet us before we open, by all means, you are more than welcome

06:16to do so. Yeah, there we go. Right. Other than that, I will see you hopefully on the 28th.

06:24Stay tuned on our Facebook page for updates on development and on stuff that we've got coming

06:30up and as we get closer to our opening weekend, we'll give you the outline of obviously the stuff

06:37that we've got on for that weekend and up and coming events. So, thank you very much for your time.

06:43There we go. I never know how to end these things, so I'm just going to hit stop.

06:47You're welcome.

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