After six months of negotiations with Spirit pub company a lease agreement was finally signed on 1 August 2012. Dushan Salwathura, currently Landlord of The Broad Face in Bridge Street, is to be the new Landlord of the Nags Head.

The Nag’s Head refurbishment plan had been ready for weeks and, following the hand over of the keys,

clearing up began.

Currently the grounds are a closed area to the public for health and safety reasons and Salters steamers are having to find elsewhere to disembark their passengers.

Local tradesmen, tree surgeons and garden clearers set to work creating a safe place for customers to enjoy the island before the actual pub opens in October.

It is hoped that The Bridge Café, Bar and Grill in the beautiful riverside gardens will be running by the end of August with porta-loos available.

Meanwhile work will continue on the interior and exterior with Qi-Decorators – a Simon House community project supported by A2Dominion , under the supervision of their workshop tutor, Mike Higgins. Mike said “this is an ideal opportunity to integrate the newly skilled workshop members into the outside workplace and this experience will be a valuable exercise in helping them gain further employment.”

Week one has been full on with the lovely weather helping to speed up the stripping out process.

The team discovered what could be an 18th century fireplace in the lounge area, and what could be 16th century interior window apertures. Dusham would love to get hold of some pictures of the public house in days gone by.

All the ceilings, walls and wood panelling have now been prepped.

Next week will see the flooring, stripped, prepped and finished in traditional walnut stain.

The scaffolding will then go up and renovation of the outside will follow.

I asked Dushan if he had managed to watch the Olympics, but he said he had been far too busy. The Nags Head was his Olympics.