Otley Pub Club have welcomed the refurbishment and re-opening of the Bay Horse, Otley following major work in the pub, including to install a gents’ toilets inside this historic pub, described as a ‘treasure’.
The Market Place pub, which is thought to date from the mid-1700s, has reverted to a traditional colour scheme, and now features new lighting and signage and two ‘Joshua Tetley’ lamps that adorn the front and rear of the building have been renovated, as well as the new gents to replace the outside gents’ toilet, something that has needed doing for years.
Husband-and-wife team Dean and Jan Ball have taken on the lease of the pub after they saw it was available while stuck in traffic as they passed through the Yorkshire market town.
Not only that, but the 250-year-old pub was familiar to the couple as a place where they used to meet friends, six-years-ago.
Now it has been given a facelift by pub operator Hawthorn Leisure, which has spent £40,000 to refurbish the venue, while Dean and Jan have invested £10,000 of their own to redecorate the interior and lay new flooring.
It will reopen on Saturday 12 October at noon.
Newly elected Otley Pub Club Chair, Rob Skinner, said:
“It’s great news that The Bay Horse is refurbished and reopening. Otley Pub Club exists to celebrate and promote the quality, quantity and diversity of pubs in Otley.
“The Bay Horse is certainly a one to be treasured in the collection, a fabulous timeless traditional classic.
“We commend Hawthorn for the investment and welcome Dean and Jan to the Otley pub family!”.
Otley Pub Club President Greg Mulholland added:
“Otley Pub Club is delighted that the much-loved Bay Horse, one of the town’s oldest pubs, will be reopening, and we welcome Dean and Jan as licensees.
“We’re pleased, too, that this unique pub has now had much-needed investment, including, at last, moving the gents’ toilets inside, and we commend Hawthorn Leisure for doing this and investing in a partnership with Dean and Jan.
“We look forward to The Bay Horse once again serving the community and playing an important part in the town’s tourism, with its key location in Otley’s market place. This this another piece of good news for Otley, and we wish Dean and Jan every success.”
Dean Ball, who with Jan ran village pub The Fox & Hounds, in Langthorpe, near Harrogate, for four-and-a-half-years, said:
“We both fancied a change and happened to see that The Bay Horse was available while stuck in traffic passing through Otley, one day. It must have been fate, because it was the very pub at which we used to regularly meet friends, around six-years-ago.
“The pub had been closed for some time, and needed updated and refurbished, but now it’s had a facelift and has been brightened-up, we’re really looking forward to welcoming regulars back to the pub, attracting new customers, and making it somewhere that tourists want to visit.”
Managing director of operations at Hawthorn Leisure, Mark McGinty said:
“The Bay Horse is an important pub for the local Otley community, and we’re delighted that we’ve now completed the refurbishment works and the pub is ready to open its doors again. Dean and Jan are very experienced pub operators, and we feel they’re the perfect couple to take on and run this traditional town centre local.
“They’ve demonstrated their commitment to The Bay Horse with a significant financial contribution of their own, and Hawthorn Leisure will now support them fully in making their new venture a success.”
