A Husband-and-wife team have taken on Otley’s Bay Horse pub after they saw it was available while stuck in traffic as they passed through the town.
The Market Place pub has been given a facelift by pub operator Hawthorn Leisure, spending £40,000 to refurbish the venue, alongside Dean and Jan Ball who invested £10,000 of their own to redecorate the interior. The pub is now all set to reopen on Saturday 12 October.
The pub is thought to date from the mid-1700s, has reverted to a traditional colour scheme, and now features new lighting and signage together with modernised toilet facilities. Two ‘Joshua Tetley’ lamps that adorn the front and rear of the building have been renovated. It is believed that the pub was the first in the UK to serve Tetley beer, and continues to do so.
The work has been welcomed by local organisation Otley Pub Club, led by former MP Greg Mulholland, who said: “Otley Pub Club is delighted that the much-loved Bay Horse, one of the town’s oldest pubs, will be reopening, and we welcome Dean and Jan as licensees.”
It’s a good story, and H&C News would like to wish Jan & Dean Ball the very best with The Bay Horse.