Major refurbishment completed at Ye Olde Fighting Cocks

St Albans' iconic Ye Olde Fighting Cocks has received a facelift thanks to the “unbelievable support” from customers since it reopened in April.

Landlord Martin Robinson took over the management of the pub in the spring with head chef Ian Baulsh and Sam Walker after pooling their savings.

They have been able to make this major investment so early on in the pub’s reopening directly because of the trade they have received in the past two months. 

The pub has undergone extensive renovations including a paint job, new hand-painted pub signs, and a transformed, tidied and trimmed garden complete with a new barbecue kitchen, and little grass-laid children’s area with mini tree-stump tables and chairs. The raised garden - which can now accommodate up to 200 people, now offers an unobstructed view of the lake in Verulamium Park.

Inside, repaired and re-varnished furniture has been given a new lease of life, and the ladies and gents toilets refurbished, with new contemporary tiling, and toilets and sinks now installed.

Martin said: “We’d planned to get to this point about six months from opening, and are four months early, only because of the huge vote of confidence we’ve received from the public.

“I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to every single person who has come through our doors in the past eight weeks. Every pint, glass of wine and meal that has been bought by our incredible customers has contributed towards enabling us to get the pub to this point. 

“It’s incredibly gratifying to be going into the summer in the black and looking good, and is testament to how loved this pub is locally. For now we intend to plough every penny back into the business, making more improvements, both to the pub’s infrastructure and its look and feel, to make it as efficient and sustainable as possible as well as looking the best it possibly can, to replay the public’s kindness.”