Surrey home opens on-site pub for residents
Surrey care home Redcot, managed by charity Friends of the Elderly, has repurposed its outdoor visiting room into a pub for residents.
The Haslemere home has transformed its garden visiting room, installed during the pandemic, into The Redcot Arms. The pub has been fitted out with a bar, pub sign, outside seating with umbrellas and a neon light reading: “The Redcot Arms, Always Open.”
Manager Jan Daly said the pub was inspired by a reminiscence activity last year. “We were chatting to the residents about music halls and first dances, and the chat moved on to where everyone had had their first drink, what it was, did they like it and do they still like it now. Everyone really got into the conversation,” she said. “That was it, the seed was planted in my head to create our own pub, I had to make it happen.”
Garden umbrellas and bar equipment were donated by local pub The Prince of Wales in Hammer Vale. The Redcot Arms is accessible to all residents and can be reached in the lower garden at the care home by a stair lift or easy steps with handrails.
The pub will serve drinks including tea, coffee, lager, wine, fruit punch and soft drinks. “The Redcot Arms will be open whenever the residents would like to use it,” said Daly. “Some of the residents love playing cards in the evening after supper, so it will be great for them to be able to sit in the pub garden for their games instead of in the lounge.”
Redcot resident Joyce Douglas said: “I’m really looking forward to The Redcot Arms being up and running. I think it’s going to be a wonderful place for us all to socialise.”
The Redcot Arms will officially be opened on 4 July by Mayor of Haslemere, Councillor Jerome Davidson, and Sophie Liard, who shares storage tips online as The Folding Lady. Liard, who ran the London marathon for Friends of the Elderly, will present a cheque to the charity for over £8,000. The event is taking place as part of Care Home Open Week 2023.
