Symposium Pubs has launched with the Three Horseshoes, a Brakspear pub in west Henley, and is preparing to open a second site in the town next month.
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Bramwell, who has worked in hospitality for more than 20 years, founded the business with his business partner Steve after leaving Rosa’s Thai earlier this year.
The Three Horseshoes opened under the new business on 14 May and has since restored food, extended trading hours and invested in live sport.
Bramwell told The Morning Advertiser (MA): “The idea for me is to get three or four really nice, good local pubs, have them all trading at a really nice level and embedded in the community.
“The Three Horseshoes is a mainstream community pub. It has every demographic within it and people use the pub in different ways.”
Second site
Symposium Pubs’ second site will be the Duck, a town centre pub due to open on the last weekend of September.
The site was previously The Duke and, before that, Mexican restaurant Pachangas.
Bramwell said the new offer would move away from a high end, restaurant led approach and reposition the venue as a more accessible premium high street pub.
He added: “I don’t want anyone to come into the pub and feel like they need to have a booking. I want people to come in, sit down and have fun. We want it to be a pub. We want it to feel like that. We want it to be another extension of embedding in the community.”
The Duck will retain much of the existing fit out but add a more playful pub feel, including games such as shuffleboard, bar billiards and arcade games.
Its food offer will focus on a smaller, consistent menu with dishes including ribs, flat iron steak and simple pub classics at accessible price points.
Bramwell said the Three Horseshoes had traded ahead of expectations since reopening, with Brakspear volume tracking showing strong growth across beer, wine and other drinks.
He said the first site had benefited from knowing the local market and understanding what the pub could be.
He added: “We knew the pub. We used to drink in it, we still used to go and watch the football in it. We knew the clientele and we knew what it could be. It was always a good community pub. It just needed a bit of love and a bit of guidance.”
The pub has also started sponsoring local football clubs as part of Symposium’s aim to build local relationships around each site.
“That’s the whole point of a good community pub. People come in, they enjoy it, we give back and it becomes circular. People then feel a sense of belonging to it, and if that keeps happening, we’ll keep giving back.”
Growth plans
Bramwell said the immediate focus was on launching the Duck and trading through Christmas before considering further sites.
Longer term, he said Symposium would look at opportunities in Henley and the Reading area, including a sports bar and a larger food led country pub.
He added: “It’s not something I’m looking to grow and sell. It’s self funded, it’s all family businesses, and I just want them to be good pubs.”
The business is working with Brakspear across both Henley sites.
Bramwell said: “If we’re successful, they’re successful. And if they’re successful, we’re more likely to be successful too.”
