Staff and regulars at a ‘proper pub’ in York have spoken of their shock and dismay at plans to transform it into a sports bar with multiple mega TV screens.
And one of York’s longest-serving licensees will be ousted as part of the changes.
The Roman Bath on St Sampson’s Square is set to be radically altered next year, the manager has been told.
Sharon Stinson said the the Roman Bath’s owner, the Stonegate Group, told them that they were not renewing the lease with Liam Fagan when it is up in March.
Liam has been licensee at the Roman Bath for nearly 40 years.
“He is one of the longest landlords in York,” said Sharon, who has been the pub’s manager for five years. “Basically, Stonegate want the pub back.”
She said Liam was “devastated, deflated, like we all are”.
Stonegate has told them that the Roman Bath will be taken over by its Craft Union brand.
Sharon said: “They’re changing it from the decor of the Romans, to a sports bar, which will consist of six big TVs.
“Everything will change in here. It won’t be like it is now. There’ll be no live music. This pub’s been known for 30 or 40 years for music.”
She said the plans suggest the bar will be moved, the display of Roman artefacts will go and the look will change completely.
The current name and theme comes from the Roman bath house discovered when the present pub was being constructed in 1929. That has now been turned into a museum, run separately from the pub, although they work closely together.
The Roman Bath is Grade II* listed because it incorporates the 4th century bath house.
Sharon said families who visit the museum often come into the pub for a drink and something to eat.
“And when they come through that door now, they’re going to be faced with a sports bar and nothing to do with the museum.”
She said it was traditional. “It’s a ‘pub pub’. A lot of my locals have been coming here maybe 30, 40 years plus.
“Everybody knows the Roman Bath as the local boozer, with music on an evening and at the weekend.
“I would love to be able to change their minds. I really, really would. I think they’re determined to have a sports bar.
“There’s plenty of sports bars in York. There’s only one Roman Bath.”
Her own position is also in jeopardy. She is employed as the live-in manager now. She’s been offered the chance to become a self-employed manager, but if she did so “I’d be putting myself into debt. I’m not prepared to do that.”
She feels “absolutely deflated and upset” by the plans.
“The bands are absolutely devastated,” she added. “Some of them have been playing here 30 odd years, and it’s like end of an era for them.”
Regular for 60 years
This week, Christopher Fell will have been working behind the bar at the Roman Bath for 19 years.
“It’s a great place to work. The regulars are a good bunch, both the day and night lot,” he told YorkMix.
“On a weekend, with the music, it’s bouncing in here.”
What does he think of the proposed changes? “I think it’s stupid to be honest. I think we’re going to be giving a master class in how to destroy a business.
“I can’t understand the reasoning behind it. Nobody seems to have actually thought it through.”
John Russell has been a regular at the Roman Bath for more than six decades.
“I’m 78 and I’ve been coming in here since I was 16, so that’s 60 odd years,” he told YorkMix “I wasn’t old enough to come in here, but I did!
“I like to come in here and sit have a pint of beer with my mates.”
He described his reaction to the plans with one word: “Disgust.” And he feels the regulars all feel the same way.
“If I want to go and watch the football in Stonebow with a television every five yards, I’ll go.
“But this is a pub. It’s a hostelry.”
Once a John Smith’s Brewery pub, the Roman Bath was bought by Unique Pub Properties, a subsidiary of the Stonegate Group, in 2001.
We have contacted Stonegate Group for their response, but have yet to hear back.