Cheshire pub veteran Jerry Brunning has picked North Wales for his new pub venture.
The historic Druid Inn at Gorsedd, near Holywell in Flintshire, is the fifth pub in the Pubs Limited group.
The Druid, which dates back to the 12th century, joins The Black Bear at Whitchurch, The Hare in Farndon, the Henry Potts in Chester and The Swan at Marbury.
Born in Bangor and educated in North Wales, Jerry, 67, is well known as the founder of the Brunning and Price pub chain which launched in the 1980s. He started with pubs in the south of England before moving North to create Old Harkers Arms in Chester in 1989 from an abandoned canal-boat chandlery. The business was sold in 2007.
A team, which includes his own children, have been working on the renovation of the latest pub, which is now open.
Jerry said: “I still love pubs and so when The Swan at Marbury came on the market I couldn’t resist and this little company, Pubs Limited, was born.
“It was good to save The Druid, a lovely pub in a lovely village. So many rural pubs are just shut down and left to decay before being sold off as houses.
“We’re delighted that The Druid is now open. We have completely stripped out the pub and had a lovely clean building to start again. We’ve hardly changed the layout, have brought lovely early 20th century floorboards for the floor and have bought and framed 300 interesting and eclectic images and lots of my much-loved brown furniture.
“I’ve always used pubs as places to meet and socialise. I want a pleasing, comfortable building, quality food and drink, interesting cask beer, decent red wine and classic dishes done well, plus kind staff and reasonable prices.
“I want it to be somewhere I can use time and again because I know I like it and I know what I’m going to get. I’m looking forward to popping in to see what’s happening at The Druid. With the other four pubs in the group I regularly pop in for a pint and a scotch egg.”
