The owners of a Cleveleys pub which has been closed for more than three years have confirmed it is to reopen.
The Victoria Hotel, on the corner of Victoria Road West and North Drive, closed on Tuesday August 1 2023 after the management team left.
Since then owner Samuel Smith Old Brewery, based in Tadcaster in Yorkshire, has been looking for a couple to run it.
Now new operators have been confirmed and the pub is to finally open its doors again.
There has been much discussion on social media about the Vic, as it is known locally, reopening and one post even put the date as Monday October 5.
And a spokesman at the brewery, which also owns the Bispham Hotel on Red Bank Road in Bispham, said today: “We can confirm the pub is to reopen but we cannot set a date at this stage.
“A couple have successfully applied to run the pub and will be taking over and reopening it at a future date.
“Before that happens, the pub needs to be made ready to reopen to the public again, after being closed for some time.”
The Victoria played host to live music in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, but had become a quieter pub in recent years.
Then, like many other Samuel Smiths pubs across the country, the Vic brought a few changes when new restrictions were controversially introduced by the brewery in 2019.
That year the boss of Sam Smiths, traditionalist Humphrey Smith, announced its pubs would be introducing a ban on mobile phones, TV, music and swearing to boost ‘social conversation person to person’. The move was not popular with all customers.
Following the death of Humphrey Smith in June, aged 81, changes are said to be already underway.
His son, Sam Smith, has taken over leadership of business and there has been an active drive to fill manager roles and reopen boarded-up pubs.
It is believed there will be a more relaxed management style as part of the changes.
Since the pub closed, a number of smaller bars have opened in the town, including The G.O.A.T, the Greedy Banker, Backstage Cleveleys, Wobblinn and The District.
Cllr Jon Jon Bamborough, who used to run the Dickens pub in Cleveleys, welcomed the news.
He said: “I still think there is room in Cleveleys for traditional style pub, it’s really good news that it is to reopen after all this time.”
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