The Musketeer pub in Pennington reopens as the Lion and LamB after revamp

A Pennington pub has reopened after a major transformation that has seen new boutique accommodation installed and a focus on quality food and local craft beers.

The Lion and LamB - formerly The Musketeer and known in the community for its music nights and sports bar credentials - has been revamped by owners Eric and Sarah Woodhall, who are back at the helm after running the hugely popular Salmon Leap pub in Totton for 30 years.

“We have owned The Musketeer since we bought the pub in 2005, and we leased it out in 2017,” explained Eric, who was born and grew up in Pennington. “Last year I sold the Salmon Leap to Punch Pubs & Co, and it’s now run by my son Shane Light.

“I wanted to take The Musketeer in a fresh direction and make it a village pub again, as it once was. It was originally built as The Lion and Lamb in the 1800s, and it later became The musketeer when two brothers took it over in the 1970s.

“We’ve retained many of the original features of the pub, including the metal work and wood around the bar, and the chandeliers - we’ve tried to return it to how it looked in the 1970s when it became The Musketeer, and take it back to its roots.

“I have really strong connections to this place - my dad and granddad used to drink here.”

The feedback since Eric and Sarah opened the doors on Good Friday has been all positive, with locals welcoming wholeheartedly the changes that have been made.

“The pub is bringing people together again, which is exactly what we were hoping to do,” said Sarah. “We’ve had people thanking us for what we’ve done here, telling us they hadn’t been in this pub for ten year but will now keep coming.

“We were so busy on the weekend we opened we ran out of ale, and we’ve been fully booked on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays ever since.

“We’ve had so many compliments on the food, the atmosphere, even the lighting. People have been craving a community pub, and we’ve succeeded in bringing that back to the village.”

The Lion and LamB is also dog friendly, with the pub’s resident dog Honey keen to meet new playmates.

The munu at the Lion and LamB features all the much loved classics diners would expect to see, but on Fridays fish dishes take centrestage on the specials board.

“Last Friday we had scallops, seabass, and seafood linguine, and we want to source from local fishermen. We may also have steak nights on Saturdays.

“Proving really popular at the moment are our homemade scotch eggs served with Guiness red onion chutney, and people are also loving our traditional Ploughmans, which is huge.”

Dishes include trio of saussages served on pea mash with seasonal veg and a red onion gravy; homemade bacon and cheeseburger with fries, onion rings and coleslaw; house omlette and chips; and shortcrust pie with mustard mash and gravy.

“We’ll be using local breweries for our craft beers, which will be changing each month,” said Eric. “We also stock gluten free lager and bitter; and we have Pimms on tap for the summer. Our outside benches have just arrived, too, so people will be able to sit outside and enjoy the sun.”

The stables next door to the pub have been transformed into cosy boutique accommodation, which will be available to book on Airbnb.

Eric and Sarah are currently looking to recruit new staff, including a chef.

“I get a real buzz out of developing people and training them,” said Eric. “My chef I had at the Salmon Leap, who is working for us now but we’re not sure how long he’ll be here, was working in retail before I took him on.

“He always had a passion for cooking, and helped out in the kitchen one day and loved it. I put him through college and he trained and qualified as a chef.”

The couple say the real challenge now is to maintain the standard and ensure people keep coming back.

“Pennington has lost its identity, and we want to help bring that back,” said Eric. “There’s always been a growing gap between Lymington and Pennington - I feel that gap has become wider.

“We’re hoping to get involved in helping with local events, and we’ve already been approached by local community groups who want use of the pub so we’ll accommodate them in any way we can, but it’s a balance at the moment while we try and get established and get our staffing right.

“In the future we’d certainly like to put on some quiz nights and a beet festival - right now it’s really important for us to listen to our clientele andfind out what they want to see more of.

“We had requests to introduce smaller plates and put on gluten free beer, and we’ve delivered these - we obviously won’t be able to do everything asked of us but, where we can, we’re more than happy to.”

Eric sat on the village’s events committee in 2015, helping to organise the donkey derby and Christmas fair, and he was presented with an award for making an outstanding contribution to the community by the town council.

For more information about the Lion and LamB, visit https://www.lionandlambpub.com

To apply for a job at the pub, go to https://www.lionandlambpub.com/join-our-team