Renovation

While the Horse was Closed

We got the keys at the beginning of August '22 and couldn't wait to get started. Turned out that we hadn't left it too late.

While the building remained unopened, the White Horse had started to degrade very quickly, with water and storm damage accumulating, internal flooding and severe damage from a lot of damp areas.

To our knowledge the last time that anyone had had a serious "go" at the pub was in 1971, when an architect and his wife bought the freehold, heavily refitted the interior and built on the front extension with the large windows. Mr and Mrs Ramsden are mentioned on our history page.

We knew that very little of the pub would be compliant with modern day specifications and requirements, so it was a great opportunity to upgrade, future-proof and make it how we all wanted it.

Pulling the pub around to reveal all of the areas needing attention, having a good measure up and a really long think was a really important step.

We are very fortunate that the Landlady has a good knowledge of hospitality and the Landlord is a Draughtsman and Designer. So we were able to plan, draw and design the new pub while exploring options and variations in design. We modelled the new pub in 3D to allow us to do fly-throughs and virtual walk arounds, explore the many different ideas that we had until we settled on Version no.27

So with plans drawn, schedules mapped out and a definate direction to go in we got started.

Learning about a building is both fascinating and terrifying. You never know what you're going to end up left with. The White Horse is an on-going community-focussed project, and we hope you see something new every time you pop in.

Breakout Photos

Step number one, poke it about a bit and give it a stress test, break it out if needed and keep going until... well... there was nothing left but an empty and bare building.

Near enough all the plaster failed and fell off, a great deal of the electricals didn't cut the mustard, a lot of the plumbing was sent to pasture a long while ago. Pretty much everything was broken out.

Ceilings collapsed, lintels fell down, the bar floor was rotten as a pear and a few doors fell off... You name it, it happened. Electric shocks get boring really quickly.

This is a silent paragraph about the chimney being knocked down by someone... Enough said about that.

So we spent 2 weeks breaking, only 1 week allowed for drawing, planning and pricing. So, that left only 12 weeks until lift off.

And, start all over again.

And so the refit began with new wiring throughout. With the old plaster down we could see what we were up against. A lot of the electrical system was past it's prime and needed fixing up.

This was a great opportunity to reposition light fittings and switches, get an idea of how much current everything was drawing, add new circuits where we needed them and get a feel for the fabric of the building.

After Electrics and a few other bits, our least favourite job... Plastering. Our friend Peter did the largest areas and Russ followed around doing all the other smaller bits.

There was a lot of plumbing to be done. We repositioned sinks and made sure new supplies were sent to and from all of the new devices and got rid of a lot of old lead piping.

While we cracked on with the indoor fixes, Jason's boys cracked on with the chimney rebuild. Oh my word, did they do an expert job or what. They examined old photos and counted the full and half bricks and examined the remaining chimney. This wasn't a re-build, it was a re-store. Hats off lads, an excellent job. We thank you so much.

Then we got on to the fun part, building the new bar, decorating the walls, installing a modern floor... a lot was done, with a lot more to do.

We got busy working on the lighting and the styling aspects, negotiating with suppliers and setting everything up business-wise.

On November the 21st 2022, we opened for our first pints and the rest is now history in the making!

Cheers!

With the greatest thanks to all of our regulars and new visitors because this has been possible because of you.

It is with our warmest thanks to Adam, Andrew, Simon and all of the other many villagers who put a shoulder to the wheel. A big thanks as well to a previous Landlord, Ian whose in-depth knowledge and guidance about the building was invaluable.

We got some fantastic professionals to help us along with certain jobs outside of our skill level, but the rest was down to our very small, but local team.

Our thanks also go to Accurate Roofing, Pukka Plastering, D.P Goodwin, S.J Feist and Maintenance Free Products.

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