The Rose and Crown, deserted since the pub closed in February this year, became a hive of activity this morning following the call for volunteers to clear up the gardens and the interior.

 

 

The pub is now owned by Steve and Debbie Newton and they are hoping to reopen towards the end of year although the restaurant will probably take a little longer to be up to full capacity.

 

 

 

 

In the garden, the grass had been shaved off and an army of hedge trimmers, loppers and various other implements were being employed to trim the hedges and clear the undergrowth around the old Willow stump.

The damaged furniture and ditcher junk was being cleared from the interior and added to the growing collection in the car park.

With all these people in action the result could have been chaos but we were fortunate to have a project manager (below) on hand to ensure the most efficient use of the labour available.

Here she is seen (below) directing the volunteers towards the lawn for group photo following the arrival of a proper photographer from the Alton Herald.

In doing so they passed Dennis's coffee bar and made full use of the opportunity . . .

The new pub owner, Steve Newton took the opportunity to thank everybody for their support and introduced the the team who will be running the Pub when it eventually reopens.

As the workers dispersed from the photo-opportunity, the huge heap of vegetation along the fence gives some idea of how much had been cleared in the preceding couple of hours .

Fortunately this didn't have to be picked up by hand as mechanical assistance had arrived in the form of Andrew Faulkner's Telehandler and trailer.

Efforts weren't confined to the exterior, the cellar had been cleared and scrubbed out and redundant equipment was being wheeled out into the skip in the yard.

In the bar, the incoming Manager, Andy Ranson,(right) seen here with Steve and Andy (left) took the opportunity to survey his new domain, although there will probably be a few changes before the pub fully reopens.

 

The lastof the trimmings had been carted away and the Project Manager took a seat for the celebrations which followed the arrival of several bottles of suitable celebratory liquids.

 

The usual suspects settled down to enjoy a glass or two of wine in the surprisingly warm sunshine, as the rest of the team gathered up their tools and headed for home or the Golden Pheasant to recover from their exertions.