Monday 29 February 2016

The Grand National Reopening!

Hi All, Hogarth here once again to bring you the run down on all things The Pilot.


It’s official, we reopen our doors to our lovely guests tomorrow and we are champing at the bit to show you all around our fantastic new look.

 

There is so much to show you but it would be a shame to tell all before we open. I have taken a few photos to give you an idea of what you can expect from the shiny new pub. This week, it’s been a little hectic with deliveries, staff training and dry runs.... but, we are ready and raring to go!

 

Our shiny new kitchen has moved upstairs. Head Chef Kieran and his team have been working tirelessly to design and produce some delicious, fresh dishes that will make you want to come for lunch and dinner time and time again.

 

Waste no more time and come and see us from 12pm Tuesday 1st March!

Monday 22 February 2016

Introducing Kerryn!


Hi everyone! Hogarth here again!

WOW! This last week has just flown by for all the crew at the Pilot.

I’d love to introduce you to our lovely Assistant manager; Kerryn Douglas.
Kerryn is a lover of fabulous food, Michael Jackson and great Gin!

Hi all!!!
This last week the team have been here, there and everywhere; Beer tasting at the Fuller’s Griffin Brewery, getting to know our new line of beers.



Gin training at the Sipsmith distillery. I was absolutely blown away with the work and passion they put into making their products.  You may have to keep an eye out for some weird and wonderful ideas we have in store for you… hint hint gin lovers



Let me give you a little of my background, I come from Australia. I have a great family back home who love hearing about all of my stories of The Pilot.



Sadly, I cant be with my lovely mum this Mothers Day as she’s a little bit too far away but with that in mind; I am taking on the task of making this year’s, the best possible Mothers Day for your mummies.

Let me make your Mothers day extra special this year by coming down for a wonderful Sunday lunch and ill even make sure there’s a little treat for mum.



I’m so happy I got to introduce myself to you all and I look forward to meeting you in person when they big day comes!!

Kerryn

Monday 15 February 2016

Training. Training. Training.

Hogarth here, it must be Monday! 

I hope you all had a great weekend. I did, Rugby and Valentine’s Day (I got spoilt with some fresh grass to munch on) what more could someone ask for. Most of all, I have been looking forward to this week. Today, The Pilot team gets together for some refresher training and also to welcome a few new members to both kitchen and front of house staff.


I would like to welcome Kieran Drinkwater, our new head chef in charge of our fantastic new kitchen. Alongside Kieran are a few new additions to the kitchen team; Noelia Garcia and Ben Maxwell who I am sure will bring something special. Stuart Richards, the new deputy manager, will be joining us from Shaws Booksellers. Stuart has been with Fuller’s for 4 years and we are happy that he has chosen to further his career with us here at The Pilot.

As I mentioned, we commenced whole team training today. Needless to say there were no long faces, even for a Monday morning.  Thrown in at the deep end, the staff plunged into some fantastic name games and icebreakers; see the video below to see who came out on top!




Next week, we prepare our beloved pub for opening so stay tuned for some possible sneak peaks...

Monday 8 February 2016

Out with the old in with the new, the neigh-xt chapter…


As it was mentioned in the last post, and you will know if you have tried to visit us over the past couple of weeks for a beer or some food. The Pilot is closed for renovations until the first week of March but we shall be open with a click of our hooves very soon. Saying goodbye to our lovely old pub does stirrup some emotions but we are excited for our shiny new pub and kitchen.

We are going from trot to gallop in regards to building work. At the moment, we have a bare, open plan pub/building site now and we have already said goodbye to the very overworked and tired kitchen. The new kitchen will go upstairs and almost double in size, to give us a lot more room to entertain our lovely customers.

The remains of the old Pilot and Kitchen



Of course we aren’t completely ripping up and chucking everything out.  We are up-cycling some of our fixtures like this lovely retro sign we are bringing in from our BBQ area.




We are revamping our beloved garden too to bring you an even better outside space to spend the summer with us. Our old BBQ has been rehomed and we are going to take delivery of a shiny new one very soon. The new garden will have lots of different features, I’m going to keep them a secret for now but I am positive that you will love them!


Next week, all the staff are getting together for staff training; I am sure there will be some stories to tell you all so make sure you read our next blog!!!