Fresh look for two Melton town centre pubs

Sean and Kat Banks, new landlords at Katz Bar, formerly Melton's White Hart pub EMN-200714-183502001

The White Lion, in Nottingham Street, has had a major refurb ahead of towels finally being taken off the pubs tomorrow (Friday).

And the White Hart, in Sherrard Street, is to become a live music venue and renamed Katz Bar when it begins trading again on Friday July 24.

New owner operator at The White Lion, Simon Brooks, is staging a VIP launch evening tomorrow with invites for guests such as councillors and council officials, police officers and representatives from suppliers.

The White Hart pub, in Melton, which is to be renamed Katz Bar and will operate as a bar and live music venue EMN-200714-133409001

This will precede Saturday’s reopening to the public at noon.

Simon said: “I took over the premises last November and completed a quick makeover of the interior.

“This year during lock down we have just completed an extensive refurbishment of the outdoor areas and beer garden.

“The White Lion has Melton’s largest beer garden, and to show off our work we are holding a VIP night this Friday.”

The White Lion in Melton EMN-200714-132532001

He added: “We’ve also created this VIP event to help our staff get back into the swing of things after the lockdown and to test our Covid compliance strategies.

“We will be asking for feedback from those who are invited to help us create better working practices in this new Covid-19 world we live in and develop a better and safer experience for our customers.”

Many of Melton’s town pubs reopened on July 4 after Boris Johnson relaxed coronavirus restrictions.

They had been closed since March when lockdown began.

And that was shortly after Sean Banks took over as landlord of the White Hart.

The pub will eventually be a small music venue although live bands are not currently allowed to play in pubs.

Sean’s wife, Kat, will be playing DJ sets there when allowed with northern soul, sixties and reggae music.

Sean told the Melton Times: “We will be putting up our new sign next week and opening as a bar to start with.

“We are going to be open seven days a week and we wil have the pool, cribs and darts teams starting back up.

“The plan is to have live bands every weekend and our first one will be a brilliant tribute band based on The Clash.

“My wife will also be doing her DJ sets on the weekends.”

Sean, who used to run a pub in Shepshed, said he hopes their venue will add to the vibrant live music scene which has flourished at the likes of the Genny B and the Noel’s Arms.

He added: “Melton is a lovely little town and we can’t wait to open the pub up for our customers.”