'We're doing it slightly differently' says new publican at Nottingham pub after 'tough history'

"We're here to stay - I bet you've not heard that before," said Clint Ghent, the new publican at Nottingham's Fellows, Morton & Clayton, who is well aware of its checkered past. You could be forgiven for thinking the pub is doomed after its recent rollcall of licensees.

There's barely been a year since 2017 when the characterful canalside pub, in Canal Street, hasn't welcomed a new face behind the bar, each pledging to turn its fortunes around - only for it to close months later. The historic 19th-century red brick building has now been leased to Clint and business partner Jamie McGowan, who will take more of a back-seat as he still has a full-time job.

Once the Victorian offices for canal transportation company Fellows, Morton & Clayton, it was converted to a pub in 1981. After a three-week revamp, the pub will reopen its doors at 5pm on Wednesday November 20.

"We've put a lot of time and thought into what we're going to do and how we're going to do things slightly differently to how it's been done before because unfortunately this pub has had a tough history since it made a transition from an Enterprise managed house years ago and it used to do pretty well.

"If you go way back, it was a Whitbread brew pub when they first started. There's still a brewing kit upstairs," said Clint, who has worked in hospitality for more than 20 years for companies including Fat Cats in Nottingham and Revolution Bars. One of his major accomplishments was to open all 19 Revolucion de Cuba bars across the country as brand operations director.

One of the first steps at Fellows was to remove the televisions. Nottingham has so many dedicated sports bars, it can't compete so just one TV will remain for major games such as the during the World Cup and Euros. Clint hopes the product range will be more appealing than before. Fellows will open every day at 11am serving coffee from Nottingham roastery Stewarts, cask ales, popular lagers, cocktails and bar snacks.

A former student in Nottingham, he recalled: "This end of town was all about Via Fossa and the Waterfront, stack them high and sell it cheap. It feels like it's become a little bit more discerning now, people are after a premium drink in a nicer environment.

"We can't be the same level of product-led as the Canalhouse next door. That's an amazing local brewery and craft beer's their game and they've got an enormous selection. But we've chosen our beer range pretty carefully to make sure that it appeals to the masses."

Continental lagers Amstel, Birra Moretti and Cruzcampo are on tap. "Market data says that's what people are tending drink at the minute. Guinness is a big thing for us. We've imported an Irish Guinness tap, which I don't think you'll see that anywhere else in Nottingham. There's a few in Manchester, you'll see a few around London. It looks cool. There are some differences to the flow rate on them and it's a quicker pour," said Clint.

Non-alcoholic Guinness 0.0 will be sold by the can. A small but quality cask ale line-up opens with Young's London Original, Purity's Pure UBU and, from local brewery Liquid Light, there's Day Tripper, a pale ale with a citrus aroma.

With a strong background in cocktails, the duo recognised a demand but with a difference. "The most frustrating thing in pubs that do cocktails is that they can take quite a long time to make. There's nothing worse, you just want a pint of ale and the bar staff are taking five minutes to make a cocktail," said Clint.

Just four are on the blackboard - Aperol Spritz, Old Fashioned, Margarita and Espresso Martini. "The commitment we've made in our menu is I can get you this drink faster than it takes for a perfect pint of Guinness. That's the rule. They are made from scratch but not all of it will be made from scratch in front of the guests, so we'll do a bit of work beforehand to batch it.

"As an example, our Espresso Martin, we will use a cold brewed coffee concentrate and we'll batch the other ingredients into another bottle, so it's actually just two ingredients, give it a shake and serve. Our Old Fashioned will be served on a big old pub optic. It's quite a slow drink to make so we'll predilute that and blend it with sugar and bitters, so its literally just three pumps on the optic, stir with an ice cube and and serve."

The eventual goal is to serve a full pub grub menu but, for now, homemade sausage rolls and chorizo Scotch eggs and pork pies from the Snobby Butcher in Sherwood will be served, and starting on Sunday December 1, a Sunday roast.

The new publicans have invested both time and money into the property - not just decorating but improving the beer lines, getting the heating fixed, the air conditioning serviced and gutting the storerooms - things that have been neglected over the years.

"We've had to give a lot of love to every bit of the building. Unfortunately when pubs are failing, you have no choice to neglect some of the things unfortunately. I think before it was a case of 'take it on, see if you can make it work' so I don't think they fundamentally did anything different to the people before them. It's probably gone downhill over quite a long period of time.

"Those guys weren't in a position to invest or do anything differently. It was a case of open the doors and sometimes with pubs, you can just do that. You can open the doors, stock the beer up, and you can make a few quid. Because the performance of this pub was so poor previously, we thought actually, we're going to have to invest time and cash into the fabric of the building itself."

The duo's original plan had been to run a semi-rural pub but the more they looked at Fellows and the "stunning location" they saw potential. "It's the longest building in the world. It's absolutely fabulous," said Clint.

The rear function room with a mezzanine level has been named the Coal Shed to give it an identity and is available for people to book events and Christmas parties.

Clint said: "We want to be super reliable because I think that it's actually part of the downfall of the place last time, with it not being open when people thought it was going to be open. You have to be adaptable in the market and try to appeal to more than one set of people on more than one occasion.

"I'd love to say that it will definitely be a success - we've staked a lot on it being a success. We're pretty determined and we've both got a pretty good track record. I think this is the 25th venue I've opened."

The opening hours will be from 11am every day, closing at 11pm Monday to Thursday, midnight Friday and Saturday. and 10pm on Sunday.