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From the
https://www.newsshopper.co.uk By Jim Palmer, 8th December 2014.
Banker Michael Wren gives up City job to open Eltham's first micropub The Long Pond.
A banker has given up his career in the City to open Eltham’s first
micro pub after having an ‘epiphany’.
Dad-of-two Michael Wren is set to open The Long Pond in Westmount
Road on Friday, December 12.
The boozer will be the town’s first micro pub, an expanding trend
which started in Kent where – as the name suggests - shops are
converted into small pubs.
They tend to focus in fresh, local ales and the entertainment comes
from chatter between punters rather than music or TV.
Michael’s parents moving to Tankerton, near Whitstable, last year
ignited his dream.
He said: “My dad told me about the micro pub (The "Tankerton Arms")
and he said you have got to come and see it, you will love it.
“I hadn’t been to one before.
“What I found when I went in there, it just blew me away.
“Within seconds I was laughing. It was the most friendly place I
have been in.”
He added: “I said ‘I have got to do this’.
“For the first time in my life I had an ambition. It was like an
epiphany.”
It took just seven months for the 49-year-old to give up his job in
the City, where he had worked for 30 years, and work towards opening
his own pub.
Michael thoroughly researched the venture and spent a lot of time
discussing it with locals - including councillors, housing
associations, shops and MP Clive Efford – before going through the
planning and licensing process.
He was overwhelmed by the positive reaction.
In September, he took over an old plumber’s merchants in Westmount
Road and set about transforming it with old school friend, builder
Steve Geden and Chris Evans.
He said: “It’s amazing what we have achieved. We have had a good
team of local people doing it.”
The Long Pond is now ready to open its doors and excitement is
building, with a fanbase already on social media and word spreading
around town like wildfire.
“The interest is just amazing,” said Michael.
In keeping with other micro pubs, The Long Pond (named after the
popular Eltham landmark) will serve a changing roster ales
predominantly from Kent’s 35 to 40 micro brewers, as well as others
from the area including Woolwich’s Hop Stuff.
Ciders and wines will also be served, including Kent’s award-winning
Chapel Down wines, though there is no place for lagers or mass
produced brews.
Snacks such as pork pies and ploughman’s lunches will be available,
though Michael wants to complement the surrounding cafes not compete
with them.
He said: “It’s somewhere for local people to walk up to and meet
friends and see people. It is not a place to go and get drunk, it’s
a place to go and talk with friends and have a laugh.”
The Long Pond opens at 5pm on Friday, December 12.
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