The Ernehale was sold off by Wetherspoon much to the surprise of regulars
Jamie Thomas, who has taken over The Ernehale in Arnold(Image: Joseph Raynor/ Reach PLC)
It’s the same — but different. It’s still The Ernehale and there will be weekday deals such as steak and curry clubs.
The popular Arnold pub, which used to be part of the Wetherspoon chain, is reopening later this month under new ownership.
Jamie Thomas, who operates The Whitemoor, in Nuthall Road, Nottingham, has taken over the business. It was put up for sale in February — much to the surprise of regulars who said it was always busy — seeking offers in excess of £400,000.
He immediately saw it as opportunity. “When it was closing down, I saw Arnold has a brilliant community and thought it would be a shame to lose one of the main community hubs,” he said.
“It’s going to be busy. Every time I put a post up on Facebook it is reaching thousands of people which is a good sign.”
The pub, in Nottingham Road, will officially open on Saturday, September 19, at 8am in time for breakfast. The day before stilt walkers will be handing out flyers in the Market Place to promote its return to business.
The beers will be flowing once again with 12 lines plus six real ales. Drinkers can expect lagers — Foster’s, Carling, Stella Artois, Cruzcampo and Coors.
Bitters will be John Smith’s and Worthington and stout drinkers can look forward to both Murphy’s and Guinness. Cider lovers have the choice of Inch’s, Strongbow and Dark Fruit.
One of the biggest asks of locals when interviewed by the Nottingham Post was for the prices to remain affordable.
While no pub operator is ever going to rival the low prices of Wetherspoon, Jamie pledged: “I am keeping it as cheap as I can. Obviously I’m not a multi-million-pound company but it will be roughly around the same prices.”
As well as breakfast, the pub will continue to serve food with special deals throughout the week. Mondays will be pie and a drink, Tuesdays will be steak club, Wednesdays will be curry and Thursdays will have special offers on burgers.
Unlike Wetherspoon, the pub will be serving Sunday roasts. “I do some lovely homemade roasts at my other pub and they tend to sell out,” said Jamie.
The appearance of the pub hasn’t changed — there’s still the existing blue carpet and the same furniture. But a pool table will be going in there and there’s a pool team ready to go.
One major change is music — something ‘Spoons never had. “We will be having live singers every Friday and Saturday.
“There will be background music at other times but there won’t be DJs. It’s not going to be like a nightclub — just live acts so people can sit back and relax,” said Jamie.
TVs will also be screening sport and there will be a much bigger emphasis on promoting the pub on social media.
He said: “The general manager is very social media savvy so we’re bringing in TikToks and challenges for customers. There’s going to be incentive each month for customers, like build your own burger, so whoever’s got the best burger will get that advertised on the specials board for a month.”
The pub will be open from 8am to midnight except on Fridays and Saturdays when it will close at 1am.
