One of Southport’s most historic pubs is reopening on Friday! (23 April)
The Windmill, on Seabank Road, will enjoy it’s St George’s Day grand reopening after spending months in lockdown.
The pub first welcomed customers in the 1800s and has been hosting local people and visitors ever since.
Landlords Neil Walsh and Tom Hodgin have been carrying out an extensive transformation of the pub during lockdown with new-look seating inside, improvements to the kitchen, and brand new outdoor furniture – perfect for when visitors return to enjoy the sunshine in the famous Windmill beer garden.
The Windmill landlord Neil Walsh said: “We will be open Fridays and Saturdays from 11am and Sundays from 12pm, opening as long as weather permits.
“We’ve got new outdoor seating in an enclosed beer garden just off the busy Lord Street, and we’ve just had brand new signage to finish the look off.
“We will just be open during weekends.
“We now have a new outside pizza oven and customers seated outside will be able to order a pizza that will take a couple of minutes to cook between 1pm and 4pm.
“We are looking forward to reopening our kitchen in May when indoor hospitality is allowed to reopen.”
The Windmill is fast becoming renowned for its top quality food after being taken over a couple of years ago by professional chef Neil and his partner Tom.
The new landlords are both in their 20s and they are delighted to be gaining a great reputation already at their new venture.
They haven’t wasted a second during the latest Covid lockdown, using the time to carry out a £15,000 revamp of the venue.
They took over the running of the pub in November 2018 and have made some big changes to things like furniture, and the food, while also keeping many of the things which The Windmill has been famous for over the years.
Neil said: “It needed a new lease of life and we have managed to do that in quite a short space of time.
“When lockdown happened, we started repainting The Windmill from top to bottom, we painted the outside, we refurbished the men’s toilets and we have plans to refurbish the ladies’ toilets later in the year.
“We are dog friendly, we also have recommissioned our real fire for those cold winter nights which has been a big hit with customers. We have also introduced passion fruit and espresso martinis on draught which will be perfect for summer.
“The pub is owned by Heineken and they have been really supportive during these tough times to ensure that we are able to reopen where we left off. We have been lucky with that, but the brewery has been able to see that we have been working hard to make this place even better.
The Windmill has a rich history in Southport, having served people for the past two centuries. However its location on Seabank Road, between Lord Street and The Promenade, means not everyone knows it is there – something the new landlords are working hard to change.
Neil said: “We think the pub has been here since perhaps the 1830s, although the well-known local historian Geoff Wright thinks it may have been here since the 1850s. We would love to learn more about its history. Considering we have been here for well over 150 years, not many people know we are here!
“We are working on that. When we took over The Windmill was ranked 127 in Southport on TripAdvisor but we have been moving it up those rankings.
“Moving forward from the Covid pandemic, when we have got this place going again we are looking to add another pub to our business by the end of the year.”
- The Windmill pub is at 12-14 Seabank Road, Southport town centre. For more details please email them at: info@thewindmillsouthport.co.uk or find The Windmill – Southport on Facebook or thewindmillsouthport on Instagram.
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