This week’s Pub of the Week is the Mill Inn in Saxlingham Thorpe, which is situated on the A140 Ipswich Road, south of Norwich.
Customers who have not yet returned to the reopened Mill Inn, off the A140 in Saxlingham Thorpe, are holding off for a while to make sure the new landlords stick around, according to Wendy Munn and Mac McPherson, who took over two months ago.
The recent history of the pub has seen it reopen and then close in such quick succession that locals are still not convinced the landlords are there for the long haul.
But Mac and Wendy, who took over after leaving the Gordon in Thorpe St Andrew, are keen to prove to locals that they intend to stick around.
Mac said: 'We came here in October with a six-month lease but we have already applied for a full lease, and we intend to stay for the long haul. We will have a new menu in January and want to encourage people to come in.'
While they will be doing a carvery on Wednesday and Sunday and a full menu next month, Mac added: 'We don't want to lose the pub/booze side of it. But everything we cook is from fresh, and we are trying to keep it to more traditional meals. I do clean my lines on a regular basis and pride myself on serving a good pint as well.'
He said he tried to take on the pub about seven years ago, but was outbid.
Both of them seem to be enjoying running this pub more than they did the Gordon, which they quit earlier in the year.
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However, Wendy added: 'We're glad we made the move but we do miss the old customers. We do get visits from some of them here.
'We get all sorts of customers here and there's a good mix of ages.'
The couple have transferred the slogan from the Gordon – 'a proper old pub serving great grub' to the Mill Inn and the old Gordon pub sign, which they had paid for, is now in their new pub's bar area.
While the pub seems to be ideally placed to pick up trade from the busy A140, Mac said it's still a very hard job, and he sometimes gets disheartened. 'It sometimes feels that you are working long hours just to pay everybody else. We have not taken wages since we've been here,' he added.
The Evening News has been urging customers to return to pubs in our Love your Local campaign.
To see more stories from the campaign visit www.eveningnews24.co.uk/loveyourlocal
