MY PUB: Fletchers Arms, Denton, Greater Manchester

The business operates four pubs and the Fletchers Arms in the charming area of Denton on the south-east edge of Manchester is certainly one of the star attractions.

Here, Almond Family Pubs director Vicki Williams tells The Morning Advertiser all about the pub that offers its community great food and beers – and amazing times too.

The pub

We’ve been running the Fletchers Arms for more than 20 years, as tenants with our brewery Robinsons.

The traditional pub is situated in the Greater Manchester suburb of Denton and is loved by locals for its community feel. It is well known for its honest approach to hospitality, with family at the core of what we do. A friendly home from home.

The pub itself received its fourth refurbishment in the winter of 2023, and to an impressive standard, with a modern, classy design. In a bold and costly move, we rearranged the interior, relocating the bar to create a striking backdrop to the now more spacious bar lounge.

We wanted to create a better space for our drinkers and local community. While we offer an excellent menu and are renowned for our carvery, we’re a traditional pub at heart and our bar guests are as important to us as our diners and most people would ‘rather dine in a bar than drink in a restaurant’.

Following a £500k joint investment with Robinsons, we believe the money was well spent. In keeping with the heritage and tradition of the pub, the plush décor complements the wooden panelling, which creates a space that is ‘parliamentary’, yet cosy.

The publican

Almond Family Pubs are hearty, northern and welcoming pubs. The name of our umbrella company references our family, the Almonds. We consist of our dad Doug and his children – James and myself.

We have been running pubs all of our lives and dad, for well over 50 years. It’s in our blood with a combined ‘time-served’ of one century. We consider the business to have been established as ‘Almond Family Pubs’ when the three of us started managing the Fletchers Arms together in 2002.

Nowadays, due to our size and us having an additional three sites to run, we employ a full-time general manager at the Fletchers. Zac, has been with the company for six years, starting with us as an assistant manager. His passion for hospitality, his team and the company in general has led to his evident success.

The trade

In terms of demographics, the Fletchers Arms welcomes all with our internal motto being “inclusive yet exclusive”.

We receive a mix of patrons, with a 50:50 gender split and includes families, businesses and the ‘grey pound’.

We serve excellent food and our renowned for our carveries but, as mentioned before, we’re a pub at heart and our bar trade is just as important to us.

The team

We employ a total of 40 staff at the Fletchers Arms – 12 of whom are full time and 28 part time with a 50:50 spilt across front and back of house.

Zac has an excellent working relationship with his undermanagement, which consists of his deputy general manager and two assistant managers, as well as his head chef.

The drinks

As a tenanted Robinsons pub, we are fully tied to its drink selection. Happily for us, Robinsons offers an excellent wet portfolio including premium Robinsons-brewed casks, along with well-considered wine, spirits and mineral lists.

We work alongside our management team to develop our drinks offering, allowing for a sense of ownership for our manager, Zac, while we’re able to input our wider industry insight and expertise.

Ensuring our drinks offer echoes our guests’ tastes is important and keeping an ear to the ground on growing trends is a must. We offer a good low & no range, including low-alcohol wines, beers and gin.

On top of this, we offer barista coffees with all of our front-of-house and bar teams trained to barista standard by our trusted supplier.

The food

The Fletchers is well known in Denton for its premium carvery, which is served daily.

Historically, our carvery was the predominant option on our menu with only a few complementary pub classics being served alongside, such as fish options and lighter bites.

As years have gone by, the market has become more competitive and our customers more discerning, and we have massively improved our food offer.

Now, our carvery is served alongside a large and diverse food menu, which caters to more tastes.

The events

We actively engage in charity work and host event a 10-mile charity walk every year to raise money for the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research.

We organise monthly a ‘Baby Brunch Club’, marketed towards local parents, which has proved popular to those wishing to mingle after the school drop off.

Our weekly entertainment includes our famous ‘Speed Quiz’ every Thursday and live acoustic music every Friday.

The future

Following our extensive refurbishment in 2023, we believe the pub is looking the best it ever has.

We will continue to grow the business focusing on our food and drink offering as well as our energy saving and environment efforts.

As a group, Almond Family Pubs is hoping to expand to new sites as and when the right opportunities arise.