New owners of Chesterfield pub refurbish venue and revamp food offering – as they aim to create “community hub”

David and Dean Murphy took over the New Inn at Queen Victoria Road, Tupton at the end of August – having been made redundant from their NHS jobs this year. The couple have been together for 15 years, and have plenty of industry experience.

David said: “Dean has run a number of pubs before, including one in Alfreton, and I got my licence running festival bars. It’s not our first rodeo, but it’s a challenge that we’re relishing.

“We thought we’d go back to our roots a little bit and what we know best.”

The first order of business after getting the keys to the dog-friendly pub was to set about refurbishing the venue.

David said: “We have put a beer courtyard out the back of the pub, away from the main road, with some tables and umbrellas out there. It’s a nice secluded area and a bit of a sun trap as well. We’re going to do a bit more with that as the months go on.

“We’re replacing the jukebox with a new model, and we’re replacing one of the four TV screens with a bigger screen. We’ve added a third satellite feed for TNT and Sky Sports, so we can show three matches at a time – potentially four if one of them is on a streaming platform.”

Changes have also been made behind the bar, with David saying that they wanted to add some premium and local drinks to their offering.

“Previously, it didn’t have too much on offer, so we’ve put some new premium drinks in. We’ve got Camden Hells lager, which is probably one of the nicest on the market, and not many people around here do that one.

“We’ve got Aspall cider, which is definitely a customer favourite compared to Strongbow. We’ve also got Thatchers’ new fusion cider – it’s a three-in-one with berry, orange and lemon flavours, depending on what you fancy.

“We’ve got some beautiful local gins, rums and whiskeys from White Peak Distillery in Ambergate. Their Bakewell Pud Gin in particular is flying out the door. We’re stocking local tonics from Global Brands, which I think are better than Fever Tree personally.

“We’ve got local ales on from within 25 miles – from as far down as Derby and as far up as Sheffield. We’ve got a house ale from Sheffield and one or two others that rotate, and real ciders as well, which never used to happen.”

The venue also has a new PA system for music on the weekends. The pub offers a live DJ on Fridays, and alternates between live singers and karaoke on Saturdays. Quizzes take place on Thursdays and Sundays, with cheap pints and free pool on Mondays, free jukebox on Tuesdays and dominoes night on Wednesdays.

David said the response had been overwhelmingly positive from customers so far – who said they hadn’t seen the pub so busy in some time.

“A lot of people have thanked us for saving their pub. I think, for one reason or another, it wasn’t very popular and it wasn't open a lot.

“That’s another thing we’ve done. Small village pubs are notorious for opening later in the day, or only opening for lunchtime and then closing for a few hours. We’re open all the way through from noon till 11.00pm every day except Fridays and Saturdays, when they close at midnight.

“People have said I’ve not seen the pub this busy in a long time, that it looks like a proper pub again, and keep doing what you’re doing – these are the kinds of comments we’re getting.”

David and Dean have also highlighted the importance of working with the local community, helping out with a local football team’s fundraising efforts and raising money for the Tupton Food Bank.

David added: “There’s lots going on – we’re trying to build it as a bit of a community hub.”

The pub’s food offering starts this month. David said they will be producing “freshly cooked stone baked pizzas and pies from Pieminister - they’re in Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield, so we’ll kind of be their Chesterfield arm. We’ll have local sausages from a farm at North Wingfield, and yorkie wraps on a Sunday afternoon.”