The Upton Arms in Upton received a £200,000 joint investment from the duo and pub company, which starts this week and will feature a new outside area and revamped games room.
Furthermore, the interior will be been given a new look with contemporary décor, new furniture, flooring and soft furnishings.
A new sports zone will feature a pool table, two halo darts boards with electronic scoring and big screens showing Sky and TNT Sports while its 100 capacity function room will also have a mini facelift.
Expansion driven by leasing
Hepplestone said: “Our focus is on wet-led locals, surrounded by chimney pots. We’ll consider freeholds but our expansion will be driven by leasing.
“It removes a lot of the pressure when there’s no major building maintenance to fund plus we get very good support from Star Pubs.
“While we’ve focused on wet only sites to date, we’re recently started dipping our toes into the water with food but can’t envisage taking a pub where it accounts for more than 30% of sales.
“We’ve built up our back office systems for expansion however, we’ve not got a target or timeline for the number of new sites - it all depends on what comes to market.
“Taking on a pub is all about the financials for us - they have to stack up. We were delighted with the returns on our previous refurbishments with Star, which has given us the confidence to invest again with them at the Upton Arms.”
Passionate operators
The capital expenditure project is Woodcock and Hepplestone’s second with Star in 18 months, after a £198,000 refurbishment of the Black Bull in Ecclesfield last summer.
Star Pubs investment manager for Yorkshire Len Jackson added: “Simon and Richard are passionate about reviving traditional locals.
“Their expertise combined with Star’s financial backing are just what’s needed to relaunch the Upton Arms and put it back on the map.”
Last month (September), Star and Scottish hospitality operators the Discovery Group reopened a pub in East Lothian following an £850,000 renovation.
The Law pub, which was previously known as the County Hotel, reopened on Wednesday 17 September with new licensee Donna McCallum at the helm after being closed since 2019.
July saw operator Chris Madin take on his second Star Pubs lease - the Boot in Flyford Flavell, near Worcester.
