The Cocked Hat reopening

The Cocked Hat in Gosport, has reopened after a refurbishment.

Transcript

00:00 My name's Jamie Skeen, I'm the General Manager here at the Coptac.

00:03 Okay, and tell me what we're doing here tonight.

00:06 So tonight is our VIP and Friends and Family pre-launch, ready for when we reopen again tomorrow after our rebranding refurbishment.

00:13 So tell me why there was a refurbishment done?

00:16 Sure, it's been eight years since the last refurbishment was done on the pub itself,

00:21 but just recently the brand itself, Flaming Grill, has gone through a change and moved over to its own destination brand,

00:28 rather than being part of the local pub system.

00:30 So because the brand has been rebranded, we've come to have our refit,

00:36 and we're the first pub to have the refit under the new refurbishment and the new branding.

00:40 Okay, and tell me what the reaction's been like so far tonight on the VIP night?

00:44 Everyone seems to be really happy so far. The pub looks great after the refurbishment from where it was before,

00:50 and everybody's excited to get going through for the Euros and a bit of sunshine to use the new garden equipment

00:57 and the new look front part of the pub. So it's exciting times.

01:01 So how does it feel to be the first pub to be refurbished?

01:05 It's amazing. There's a bit of pressure obviously, but it's great that they had confidence in us

01:10 and they were happy to make us the first pub to actually have the refurbishment.

01:14 And tell me, are there any changes in the pub?

01:17 So yeah, we've got new TV's throughout the pub. The old projector has been taken away and been replaced by a nice new TV.

01:24 We've got new function room at the back where the little snug room is.

01:28 So now it's available for functions and small private hires, which can be actually sectioned off and cordoned off,

01:34 and we can do table service in there now as well.

01:37 We've got accessibility for people to use their PowerPoint presentations and stuff and link straight into the TV system in there.

01:44 We've got all the new outside furniture and everything out here for the garden area, outside waitress station.

01:50 We've had a new TV installed outside with speaker system ready for the Euros, for people to enjoy the sunshine and the football outside.

01:57 So with those changes and added things, do you think that's going to attract even more customers to the Cocktap?

02:03 Definitely. There's people that are local that haven't been here in years,

02:07 so they'll be obviously inquisitive as to the new changes and what it will be like inside now.

02:15 And it gives us a chance to win back some old customers that probably haven't been in a while too.

02:19 And anything else? I know you mentioned getting ready for the Euros and things like that,

02:23 but is there anything else that the pub has in the pipeline?

02:26 Well, currently at the moment, we've just launched our brand new menu.

02:29 So it started for some of the other flaming grills last week, but obviously we were closed for the refurbishment.

02:34 So today and tomorrow will be our first run through with the new menu inside.

02:39 - Thank you, man.