Runway success
Nigel Huddleston explores the renaissance of a Kent pub, based on
the theme of early aviation pioneers
The Aviator, Queenborough Corner, Queenborough, Sheerness, Kent, ME12 3DJ
01795 666094; www.shepherdneame.co.uk/pubs/pubs.php/aviator
Background
History: Before the pub was bought in March from Mitchells & Butlers by Kent brewer Shepherd Neame, it was a Brewers Fayre pub called Lady Hamilton. According to Shepherd Neame retail director Nigel Bunting, it was "a bit unloved".
In an unusual step for the company, the pub was completely closed for the whole three months of refurbishment. It was reborn as the Aviator, with an identity inspired by historical links with the early days of powered flight.
The location: The pub is located at a major road intersection on the Isle of Sheppey side of a new £100m bridge, which links the island with the mainland and helps generate welcome commercial investment.
Bunting says: "We thought it was a strategically good site. This is the first time there has been such a substantial level of investment in a pub site on the island."
Martin Godden: Shepherd Neame retail property manager Martin Godden was responsible for delivering a quick-fire, three-month turn-around of the refurbishment project that came in on-budget.
Phil Chislett: The Aviator's new manager was recruited from Shepherd Neame's existing pool of talent. Chislett has worked at the White Horse & Bower in Westminster, and has been with the company for six years.
"The island has a growing community, and if people are going out for a meal and a drink, we want them to come here," he says.
Cost: Three months after it was closed in order to undergo the extensive £350,000 refurbishment, the Aviator reopened under its new identity with a special fly-past featuring a 1949 Chipmunk aircraft.
Balance sheet
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Building Costs ?162,000
exterior works?45,000
Fixtures and fittings £?96,000
kitchen£?35,000
smoking solutions?12,000
Total ?350,000
Building works
The building structure is largely unchanged, but creating separate spaces within the interior involved a lot of work. The bar area was refitted, with the creation of the snug, and an interior dividing door removed between the bar and the old family room to create more of a visual flow.
The pub remains child-friendly, with a kids' menu and high-chairs, but a ball park has been ripped out of the former family area and replaced with a second set of toilets and attractive fixed corner seating area.
"The ball park was the biggest single task," says Godden. "You can't imagine some of the things we found."
Cost: £162,000
Exterior
The front terrace has been refurbished with floral displays, new signage and eco-friendly low-watt LED lighting, which creates a warm effect across the frontage at night at a cost equivalent to running a couple of spotlights.
A rear garden has been created to allow for al-fresco summer dining.
"Basically, the garden had become a dumping ground," says Godden.
"We decided that we wanted to make it more attractive without blowing a big chunk of the budget.
"Outside areas are very important to us. We spent money landscaping the car park too, because that tells people a lot about the pub's standards."
Cost: £45,000
Smoking solutions
"The timing of the smoking ban gave us the opportunity to go non-smoking from the start and plan around that," says Bunting. The decision was to go for robust, large heated awnings that come from a supplier more accustomed to supplying cafés in Alpine ski resorts, and have been incorporated to the front-of-pub design in a way that enhances rather than detracts from its appeal
Cost: £12,000
Design
Brief: The aim was to create a modern environment, while remaining sympathetic to existing architecture and faithful to the aviation theme. This was done by retaining early 20th-century details such as the dark wood bar and stained glass skylights, and subtly adding suitable features including a stained, soft-wood back bar that has a mirror with art deco graphics - a style repeated on signage throughout the premises.
"It was important that the facilities, such as the big screen, were not overbearing," says Godden. "We wanted a relaxed family pub-restaurant that works for all generations and is something the community can feel proud of."
Inspiration: The decor focused on early 20th-century design to reflect the pioneering aviation era at the core of the pub's identity, and meant spending money on quality materials and features.
Godden says: "We always try to include three or four top-quality items when we do a refurbishment. Here, that includes the black and-white tiled floor around the bar, bric-à-brac, fixed restaurant seating and fireplaces."
Tradition: While creating a new restaurant at the rear, an important part of the brief was to make the rest of the venue feel like a real pub, with stools at the bar, warm lighting, cosy snug area and big screen. The pub hasn't shied away from pub elements such as fruit and quiz machines, and part of the manager's role has been to foster the community side of pub life with charity nights and live music.
"We've tried to make it zoned, rather than just keep the previous big restaurant space, so that you're still welcome to come in if you just want to sit and have a drink," says Bunting.
Designers: Shepherd Neame in-house team
Kitchen
Money spent on the kitchen was mainly to upgrade equipment to enable the pub's food offering to move up a notch or two.
Godden says: "What was in there was fine for doing a spec menu, but the improvements enable the staff to do signature dishes and more serious restaurant-style food."
The restaurant has an à la carte menu, principally aimed at the evening trade, with starters from £4.50 for duck pâté with port, rhubarb and ginger chutney, and mains such as scrumpy-braised pork (£12.95) and pan-roasted barbary duck breast with Thai noodles (£11.95).
Where possible, produce is locally sourced and billed on the menu as "fresh from the garden of England". A slimmer bar menu features pub favourites such as scampi or fish and chips (both £7.25), "lighter bites" and salads, sandwiches and jackets.
Bunting says: "Lots of people were going off the island to eat and we saw a big opportunity to keep them here and eating. Before, the pub was offer-driven but now it's about good value for money."
Waste cooking oil is recovered and recycled as biofuel for Shepherd Neame drays as part of its company-wide eco-policy.
Cost: £35,000
Results
The pub reopened as the Aviator in June and the investment is already paying off with improved performance for its new owner. Bunting estimates that as the Lady Hamilton, the pub took about £8,000 a week. This has risen to £14,000 - an increase of 75%. The dry:wet split is 60:40, reflecting the importance of the traditional pub element in the product mix.
Shepherd Neame's birthday club scheme, which sends birthday vouchers to regulars at each of its pubs, has already recruited 680 members at the Aviator, suggesting that there is plenty of potential for encouraging repeat visits in the coming months.
This attractive, well-thought-out refurb based on the needs of the local community looks sure to help the Aviator take off in style.
Fixtures and fittings
Shepherd Neame enlisted the help of a local dignitary, Air Commodore Bill Croydon, to advise on and help source photos, posters and memorabilia to evoke the pioneering aviation spirit the brewer wanted to create.
Using his expertise, it has chosen artefacts recalling the visit of the Wright brothers to nearby Leysdown in 1909, and another by John Moore-Brabazon, the first Briton to fly on English soil.
The 70-cover restaurant had
