A NEW landlord for the New Inn in Amesbury has been revealed.

Last month the pub on High Street lost its licence following reports of antisocial behaviour, noise, intoxicated customers and alleged drug use.

Nathan Muirhead, former landlord, gave the premises up a few days before Wiltshire Council made its licence decision, and as a result the pub is currently closed.

Today however, February 8, Amesbury Town Councillor Ashley Brindley has come forward as the new landlord.

This is subject to a new licence being approved.

Under company One Dream, Mr Brindley also runs The Kings Arms on Church Street.


READ MORE: 


Confirming the news to the Journal, Mr Brindley said the new New Inn will be completely different to its original operation, with a focus on food and an older clientele.

As a result of previous noise concerns, the company has also decided The New Inn will no longer provide live music, and the garden and Stables facility will be closed.

Describing the pub as "beautiful and popular", Mr Brindley said: "We're giving it a complete change, we're not competing with the previous landlord."

Talking about why he snapped up the premises, he said: "With everything that has happened we don't want what's happened in Salisbury to happen in Amesbury - more empty places coming up."

Outlining reasons for not reopening the garden and the same type of functions as before, he said: "I can just see why residents were upset, I personally didn't realise [their homes] were that close to the garden.

"I can understand why there was a bone of contention, especially with the newer homes in the area. Amesbury is constantly changing so we need to adapt to that.

"We're looking forward to opening, we want it to be nice for everyone."

The company has now applied for a fresh licence, which will be assessed in March, which includes a 2am closing time.

Alongside Amesbury pubs offering different opening hours, Mr Brindley added One Dream will be working with the local security and taxi services to ensure the night time economy is suitable for all.

Wanting to "rebuild relationships" with all Amesbury residents, he added: "We thought long and hard about this, the decisions we've made were not done so lightly but we're going all out to make it a nice place.

"By opening The New Inn [until 2am] we would be lifting emphasis off other places and people will disperse better, it would stop queuing and partying on the streets."

Get more Salisbury news

You can also like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date, as well as signing up for one of our newsletters.

If you want online news with fewer ads, unlimited access and reader rewards - plus a chance to support our local journalism - find out more about registering or a digital subscription.

Email newsdesk@salisburyjournal.co.uk with your comments, pictures, letters and news stories.