Award winning landlord saves Tonbridge pub from developers
The Barden Residents Association clubbed together to try to save the two-storey pub being sold off for housing by having it listed as an asset of community value (ACV).
Rudd and his partner Emma Cole decided to step in to take over the pub bringing their estate up to two sites. They have been licensees of the Windmill, at Sevenoaks Weald, for the past six years – another pub they rescued from closure.
Improve
The couple have worked to improve the Nelson’s interior, replacing floors and ceilings and adding walls and pillars to create three distinct bar areas – a saloon bar, all-purpose bar and a sports bar, featuring a 2.5-metre HD screen and surround sound, plus juke box.
The pub has 10 cask ales on tap, plus craft beers, Continental lagers and cocktails.
The Nelson will not be serving meals, apart from quality bar snacks, hot pork scratchings, pickled eggs, pies and the occasional curry.
Tonbridge history
“This is such a part of Tonbridge’s history that it would have been a shame to close it down. Thankfully, largely due to the residents themselves, we have been able to take on the pub and re-open it for the purpose for which it was intended,” said Rudd.
“There’s not much we don’t know about real ales and good beer and believe the Nelson Arms is the perfect location to bring this kind of quality offering to Tonbridge.”
Their pubs have won a CAMRA award every year for the past nine years, both in the Maidstone and Mid-Kent and West Kent regions. The Windmill made it through to the national finals of the CAMRA Pub of the Year contest in 2014.
