The new owners of a town centre bar urged councillors to support hospitality venues – moments before their bid to stay open until 11pm was approved.
Husband-and-wife team Caroline and Matthew Allom took on The Old Pharmacy bar in Sandwich with business partner Ben Nash earlier this year.
The trio applied to Dover District Council (DDC) to increase the site’s opening hours to 11pm from Thursday to Saturday and 7pm on Sunday.
And their plan was approved by the authority’s licensing sub-committee yesterday (Monday) after Mr Nash stated how pubs are the “lifeblood of England”.
“We just want more flexibility in our hours because 12pm until 4pm on Sunday is a very small window with which to trade, and what we find is that by the time it gets to about 2pm we start to get busy,” he said.
“But then at 4pm we have to close the doors, when we’re actually just starting to get going.
“Recently, the Chancellor made the point of saying that bars and pubs are the lifeblood of England, and about 378 are expected to close in 2025 alone.
“I just think it’s important we are given as much support as we can.
“We’ve certainly noticed we get an awful lot of customers coming to Sandwich, from Deal, Dover, Ash, and I think us being there is becoming quite an integral part of the Sandwich business community.”
Mr Nash added that additional support was needed in the town, which, last month, lost much-loved tapas restaurant, Tan Bueno, after eight years in New Street.
A notice in the window of the site states that after the loss of their head chef, the owners have decided to step back from running the busy spot and spend more time as a family.
An objector to the The Old Pharmacy Bar application argued the current 10pm closing time was already late enough, and expressed concern over potential nuisance from customers leaving after 11pm in a densely populated area.
However, Mrs Allom added that although the licence would grant them the opportunity to close later, the business would still be advertised to close at 10pm Thursday to Saturday.
“My husband and I live in Whitstable and the hours we currently trade, we feel, are more than enough for us as a family with the travelling and so on,” she said.
“But we would like the opportunity, say if there was an occasion such as someone’s birthday, to be able to open later and on a Sunday, it will help us keep up the momentum.
“We are a new business, we’ve only been open a few months, so we’re still getting to know our customers, but we are really well supported by the locals in Sandwich.”
‘It feels like we have become an integral part of the community…’
After a short discussion, DDC’s licensing sub-committee voted to approve the application.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Nash, who recently moved to Sandwich, said: “It’s great to get the extension, and although our advertised hours will stay the same, we wanted to have the option to stay open later.
“At the end of the day, it is a business, but we love Sandwich and all our customers, and as I said, it feels like we have become an integral part of the community.
“But it is tough to trade, obviously, we’ve just seen Tan Bueno close, but this will give us a bit more flexibility and hopefully the support can continue as we hope to really enhance the town.”
Mr Nash added the next step will be to acquire a street furniture licence to allow for additional seating at the establishment.
