A POPULAR pub landlady says she misses her regulars after leaving her pub following the death of her partner.

Theresa Marfell says she had a “blast” running The Tavern in Rossmore Road, Parkstone, for nine years but admitted the difficulties of the industry began to take a toll.

The pub, also known as the Rossmore Tavern, closed its doors on May 9 and has been boarded up and left empty since.

Theresa, 59, ran the pub with her partner and licensee Wayne Clark until he died in August last year. After suffering a stroke last Christmas, Theresa decided the time was right to move on from the popular boozer.

She told the Echo: “I didn’t feel I could take it on and, after nine years of running it with Wayne, I didn’t want to."

 

Bournemouth Echo: The late Wayne Clark with his partner Theresa Marfell

The site is owned by Stonegate Group, which runs more than 300 pubs across the UK.

Theresa, who has been a pub licensee for more than 30 years, added: “Before Wayne died he was talking about relinquishing the lease anyway so it was quite amicable.

“But it would have been nice if they’d got someone new in to run it as now it’s just sat there. I drove by recently and it looks awful.

“The Tavern wasn’t the easiest of pubs to run. It was a community pub so had lots of different types of people, and all the good and bad that comes with that.

“But at heart, it was just a nice, normal community pub.”

Amid rumours about the site’s future, Theresa believes a new licensee was set to take over but pulled out at the last moment.

Bournemouth Echo: The Tavern pub in Rossmore Road, ParkstoneThe Tavern pub in Rossmore Road, Parkstone (Image: Google)

Despite the personal circumstances, Theresa did stress rising costs present a serious problem for the hospitality sector.

“In this day and age bills are getting higher and it was not manageable sometimes,” she said.

“We were losing a grand a week at times.

“Also the regulars miss it, I’ve been to a couple of pubs nearby and none of my locals have really gone to any of them.”

When asked whether she believes the pub is still viable, Theresa said: “Of course it is. There are so many people in the area and the garden is huge, so there is strong potential. Stonegate just need to chuck some money into it.

“Our regulars were all brilliant people and I miss them.

“We had a blast.”

Stonegate Group has been approached to comment.