Northampton pair refurbish new pub venture during lockdown ready for July 4

Two Northampton men are looking forward to getting their passion project off the ground again - this time after a £5,000 refurbishment during lockdown.

Former warehouse manager, Andy Spencer, who grew up in Lings, always wanted to be his own boss by the time he was in his forties.

After his mum, Tina, passed away he was able to invest money gifted to him into the Standens Inn to make his dream happen.

Andy and his business partner Junior Dunkley, who met while working together at Travis Perkins, originally opened the Trust Inns pub on January 8 for just three months ahead of lockdown.

After shutting on March 20 the pair decided to use their time wisely and invested some cash into the pub to revamp the sports bar - with new TVs as well as hand-built tables and chairs.

Andy said: "We thought we would take that time to refurbish it. It did not have the best reputation before [we were here], I won't lie, but we've turned it around and we want people to know about it.

"We have funded this ourselves and thought it would be nice to share some good news. I always wanted to have a pub, I think every boy does."

The pub has a lounge area, and a sports bar now with Sky and BT Sports and the duo are thinking about opening for breakfast in the coming weeks.

"When I got the phone call to say we are going to shut the pub I was devastated," Andy added.

"We only had the pub it three months and as it's our pub we still needed to pay the bills. I was concerned for a bit but luckily we were still able to keep it running and that's when we decided to refurbish it."

Now, the pub and it's six staff are looking forward to welcoming back their customers on July 4 at midday.

"We put our first beer order in last week," he added. "We can't wait to reopen now, it's been so challenging but it's very rewarding. I think my mum would have been proud."