A well-known North Yorkshire pub has reopened after a £45,000 refurbishment.
The Castle Inn in Cawood near Selby has been transformed after it closed for several weeks of renovation – and it’s looking fantastic!
YorkMix spoke to owner and landlady April Rose to find out more.
“The idea was to turn it into a home from home, cosy, warm and inviting pub,” said April.
“I had always admired the Castle Inn as it is a beautiful building and had so much potential. I registered my interest with Punch Pubs that if it ever became available I would like to take it.”
That conversation was April last year.
“Then the previous tenants gave their notice in October last year and I got the keys at the beginning of December.”
April, who was born in Halifax, has had a lot of experience in the bar and restaurant industry. At 20 years old, she moved to France where she renovated an old farm and bought a bar restaurant which she owned for 12 years.
Once she came back to the UK, April worked as a bank manager for Lloyds Bank for nine years. It was after her mother sadly passed away that April started to re-think her career.
“Life is too short and I knew I wanted to go back into the pub and restaurant business.”
The chance came when April moved to Wistow, Selby and the only pub in the village, The Black Swan, became available. April closed it for seven weeks for a full renovation inside and out and successfully re-opened it last June.
April is the head chef at The Black Swan, while her partner, Liam, will manage The Castle Inn.
Similarly to The Black Swan, “90% of the refurb was done with my own hands.”
April encountered a lot of problems during the renovation, such as needing new pipework, boiler issues, and leaking radiators.
As part of the refurb, April has installed a whole new cellar system, a complete interior renovation, wallpapering and new carpet, wooden beams, new furniture, a new sound system, and more.
She reopened The Castle Inn on Friday 19 January to a great reception. “All the customers have been extremely impressed and expressed how warm, clean, inviting it is and how it looks so much bigger.”
The Castle Inn is set to also offer food, from head chef Ashley Finch. Among other achievements, Ashley has worked in London’s top one, two and three Michelin star restaurants (The Dorchester, Langham Hotel, The Berkeley) for eight years, and has worked for chefs Marcus Wareing, Michel Roux Junior and Alain Ducasse.
The pub will be serving up ‘Yorkshire Tapas’.
“We wanted to do something different, something that wasn’t available within close proximity and it needed to be completely different to what we offer at The Black Swan,” said April. “So we came up with the name ‘CastleTapasCo’.”
The food offering will be introduced once the kitchen renovation is complete in a couple of weeks time.
To keep up to date with The Castle Inn Cawood, visit their Facebook page.