MEET YOUR LOCAL
by Laura Hitchcock
Meet Your Local: The Plough at Manston
Our regular column in which you discover the faces and stories behind the pub sign. This month we’ve been chatting to Peter & Karlene, who have spent the last year renovating The Plough at Manston, which is finally ready to open on the 18th May. The Plough at Manston - planning to finally re-open on the 18th May
The Plough at Manston is run by husband and wife team Peter & Karlene. How did you end up at The Plough? I had worked in hospitality in the Caribbean for the last thirty years and it was time to return home. Both Karlene, my wife, and I love the hospitality business and wanted to continue to be involved in it. My family was from Devon and I was born in Salisbury, so the South West was a natural place to look for an old Country Pub to restore and run. After much searching we found the Plough at Manston and quickly realised that the location, the community and the building itself offered us exactly what we were looking for.
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We arrived in December 2019 and after a few nights in the wonderful Tick Tock Cottage in Marnull settled into the newly delivered and locally made Plankbridge Shepherd’s Hut, where we lived during the renovation and expansion of the Plough.
well we found when digging the foundations for the additional dining area, the new kitchen and the bathrooms.”
We had hoped to complete the work and open the Pub before the end of 2020, but the project was delayed by the Covid lockdown and the discovery of the inevitable problems which will be familiar to all who have worked on three hundred and fifty year old buildings.
“Surprises included correcting a dramatically leaning West Gable, installing a sewage treatment plant, and filling an old
A dramatically leaning gable end was NOT in the original plans for the 350yr-old pub’s renovation. Always free - subscribe here
