'We're glad you're back' as Nottingham pub Fellows, Morton and Clayton returns after bumpy time

It's been a bumpy road for one of Nottingham's best known pubs over the last few years with changes in ownership, spates of closure and, when it was open, hours varied. But now Fellows, Morton and Clayton has reopened under new management with a firm plan of action.

Owners Stonegate are leasing the pub to Stout and Stone Inns, a rapidly growing pub company based in the West Midlands. The new company is taking over a number of leases from national pub owners including Greene King and Stonegate.

Andy O'Connor, the new general manager of Fellows, in Canal Street, said a number of changes would be implemented, in particular regular opening hours. He's confident he can restore customers' faith after regulars drifted to other pubs due to the random opening times.

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He said: "We've just got to keep going and going and it'll come back. The feedback is 'we're glad to see you're back open'. It has been open and closed a few times. It really is about consistency, keeping it open all the time and letting people know we are open. Not closing early, not opening late. People get used to habit. You walk past somewhere on a Tuesday at 10pm and it's closed, the following week you won't come and it could be open."

Real ale is back on. "Before when people were coming in, lagers were on but they didn't have any ales. As ales don't keep, you've got to sell within a certain time and if you don't they go off. Because they weren't open all the time they couldn't get rid of the product so instead of wasting lots they just weren't having it on. We're open all day, every day so everything is on."

The fully stocked bar has lagers such as Madri, Birra Moretti, Cruzcampo and Carling on draught. The real ales are currently Doom Bar amber ale, Butcombe's Original, and Atlantic pale ale.

"They will rotate. We have three on at the moment and this time next week there will be three different ones. We're already starting to get some regulars back in the last week - they'll obviously let us know what they prefer," said Andy, who is Mansfield born and bred and has worked in the pub industry for nearly 28 years, starting when he was 18.

From now on the pub will be open every day from noon. The kitchen is also back in action. To start with the menu is pizzas, sides and desserts. Customers can choose from toppings such as a classic margarita, pepperoni, BBQ chicken and spicy vegetable feast, with accompaniments such as fries, onion rings, chicken tenders, coleslaw or salad. Waffles, brownies, cheesecake and a chocolate brownie sundae will satisfy those with a sweet tooth.

Andy said: "This is something we're just starting with as it's easy and quite basic, something that doesn't take long to do and can be prepped quite easily so if people are on their lunch break and only have half an hour or 45 minutes, we can do it quite quickly for them. There's the option for people to call up and pre-order so we can have it ready for them. We can do takeaway as well."

While the pub has missed the boat for catching Premier League trade, it couldn't be better timing with the Euros starting on Friday, June 14. Fellows' multiple screens and projector will be showing all the games. And in another couple of months when Forest are playing at home again Andy is planning to open the pub at 9am to serve breakfast when kick-off in 12.30pm.

He is optimistic that with a new staff team, better times are around the corner for the pub, which hasn't been trading as long as you might think despite the building dating back to 1895.

Previously it was the Victorian offices for canal transportation company Fellows, Morton and Clayton. It was converted to a pub in 1981.

It wasn't just the pandemic that sent the pub on a downwards spiral. When it was part of Ei Publican Partnerships in 2017, the former licensee allegedly left under a cloud. He allegedly bolted the doors over Easter, claiming he had been priced out by the pub company. Since then it has been taken by two different pub companies, with a constant search for new tenants.

Andy said: "It's an iconic building. Everyone I've spoken to about taking this business on, on my personal social media pages, they said they come here when they come to Nottingham. It's the first stop really, I know you've got a couple of little bars, but it's the first proper pub from the train station - and your last one when you're going home at night.

"It's getting that message out that we are open every day. We're doing food and creating that atmosphere once again. This building is like a tardis. It's quite mulit-faceted."

As well as normal day-to-day business, the pub has space for private functions such as birthday parties. And rather than being a competitor, the Canalhouse next door, has already put business their way, when it couldn't accommodate a retirement party. It's now taking place at Fellows.

"They couldn't do it so they put something our way straight away. We've only been open a week so that's nice," said Andy. With the Canalhouse and Via Fossa, he hopes the three pubs are enough to create a bit of a bar crawl.

"Our competitors are glad we're open - they don't want us to be closed because if there's only two pubs people will walk up to Hockley or the Lace Market, or Cornerhouse where there's more. If we can all create a bit of a buzz around here it's certainly going to help all the businesses and the area as well."

Drinkers in the pub are pleased to see it up and running again. Graham Clark, of Lenton, said he was happy that the pub was on a more stable footing. "It was sad to see it closed. I like the friendly staff."