New owners at The Narrow Nick micropub in Rothbury

Publicans Paul and Sarah Johnson have sold The Narrow Nick to concentrate on other projects that are taking off.

They already operate The Ale Gate in Alnwick and have entered into a 50/50 collaboration with Kris Blackburn, owner of the Running Fox cafe chain, on a project to reopen The Plough Inn at Powburn.

They have handed the reins of The Narrow Nick to local builders James Edmondson, from Thropton, and Alasdair Wilson, from Rothbury.

The brand new publicans will be working Paul and Sarah to continue running the micropub as it is, with the hope that it will continue to serve local pub-goers just as successfully.

Paul said: "Sarah and I took The Narrow Nick on together seven and a half years ago. When we opened it, it wasn't a pub at the time, it was a closed shop and we changed it into a pub.

"It’s something completely different to the rest and it will continue as The Narrow Nick, nothing will change there. The locals are very happy that it's two local lads who have taken it on.”

The beloved pub is a favourite of many in the town and within no time at all, Paul and Sarah managed to sell it on.

Paul continued: "We put it up for sale and within half an hour we had six people wanting to buy it and within an hour it was sold. That's how quick it went.”

James and Alasdair made their decision to take on The Narrow Nick on May 31 and started their pub-running journey on Monday.

James said: “It’s totally different but we’ll give it a go and hopefully it works, that’s the plan anyway!”

"Myself and Alasdair are both local building contractors. The pub will be run alongside our current businesses."We look forward to our new venture, and we are both looking forward to meeting and welcoming customers to our pub.

"It's been great to hear lots of positive feedback from people and knowing that we are local lads seems to go down well.

"We will be open seven days a week and look forward to seeing you all soon."

Paul added: "It was our little baby, the one me and my wife started up, so we are sad to see it go. But the project we've taken on, The Plough Inn, with Kris is massive. It's been closed for nine years so we’re having to put a lot of work in it, it's full on.”