A well-loved Workington pub is reopening under new management.
The Briery, on Stainburn Road, will fully reopen to the public on Friday November 7 and will officially start serving food from 5pm.
Debbie Burrows, 62, and her business partner Debbie Garty, 51, both from Keswick, will be running the pub together.
The duo are old school friends and have worked together in the hospitality sector throughout their lives.
Debbie Burrows previously ran The Lake Road Inn, in Keswick, for 25 years, before she retired last November.
But only a few months later, she decided to come out of retirement to do relief management for breweries, before she spotted The Briery.
She said: “We saw The Briery and thought do you know what, we’ll go back in.
“We both live in Keswick, but we’ll be travelling in everyday and I’ve got my chef, who is my brother, living on site.
“So it’s definitely family run, even though me and Debbie aren’t related, we’re like family
“But we’re giving it a go and we’re very excited about it, we’re hoping to give something back to local people.”
Debbie said the pair are hoping to see the pub grow into a hub for the local community.
She added: “We’re putting our own stamp on it, it’s already lovely inside, we’re just making it a bit more homely.
“Last Saturday we did a little soft opening for the locals to come in and meet us and it was very busy, I was very surprised!
“But we’re going to hit the quizzes and maybe do live entertainment, and make it into a little hub for the community of Stainburn.
“We’ve also got the bonus of the restaurant and the four letting rooms, which have all been recently done and they’re lovely.
“I think people just miss their pub and want it open, I didn’t realise how many houses there is in Stainburn, it’s quite a big community.”
It has remained empty since then, until Debbie and her business partner stepped in and took over the tenancy.
She added: “The bar has been open this week, but we will officially go live on Friday night with the menu and we’ll be doing traditional good pub food, which is what we did in Keswick for all those years.
“We are taking bookings over the phone, but we’ll also accept walk ins if we’ve got the tables and we are really looking forward to it.”
