Winchester pubs enjoy successful Christmas, despite rising costs

The Willow Tree on Durngate had to close just before Christmas, but the Wykeham Arms, William Walker and Bridge Street House have thrived.

The Wykeham Arms, owned by Fullers, has 'the best year we’ve ever had' according to general manager, Jon Howard.

He said: “We had 120 people in for lunch on Christmas Day, the bar was open and it was really popular. We are a hotel as well, we have got 14 rooms, so most of the people who were staying in our bedrooms were having lunch as well.

“On the Sunday before Christmas, we also had the Winchester Cathedral Choir and Choristers in the pub for a private small carol service. Which is something we do every year, it was brilliant.

“Christmas was really good, it was the best year we’ve ever had, we broke our record week. It didn’t feel that hard either, I think foot traffic was perhaps a little bit down, but people definitely spent their money. We are quite happy.”

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In regard to the current rise in costs, he said: “We have to be really mindful of cost, every business does, but the reality is we can’t control the cost of energy and food. So we are just focusing on things we can control ourselves, just really pushing services, hospitality, food, quality and doing our best with the things that we can control.

“We are quite fortunate here, we’ve got a long history with Winchester and we are pretty well known. We are doing fantastic in January, way better than we thought we would.”

The William Walker, owned by Fullers, said 'bookings were flying out' through Christmas and New Year. 

Front of house staff member Fiona Coats said: “We have the Winchester Christmas Market that’s quite famous within the south. Because of that, we’re a main business that gets all the foot traffic so you can imagine we were absolutely heaving for the six weeks the market was on. I know there was one Saturday when the queue went from the Cathedral corner all the way to the High Street. We did really well and bookings were flying out."

When discussing changes to the business in the New Year, she said: “Most of our menu is different, we always have our classics, that doesn’t change, but most has changed and he always tries to change up the vegan and vegetarian dishes. There’s always a homemade soup, pie, and a variety of sandwiches served with chips.” 

In response to the cost of living crisis and the effect on the pub, she said: “I haven't noticed, we thought there would be. I mean it's certainly something we all talk about, prices have gone up a little bit but it doesn’t seem to have had an effect, certainly on our regular customers.”

Bridge Street House welcomed new management in November which has been very well-received by their customers.

Bar manager, Adam Snowdon said: “The food has brought a lot of new people in – new chef, new menu. That’s doing really well. The Sunday roast is, in particular is really good.

“The previous Christmas where Covid was a lot more present, it was a lot slower. We closed early on New Year’s Eve last year because there just wasn’t really anyone. But this year, it was really busy.

“The cost-of-living crisis definitely has affected the pub in January more so compared to December. It’s a lot more noticeable but it’s how everywhere is in January really, so it isn’t too bad. But it wasn’t really noticed in December, every night was busy.”