Hall & Woodhouse, the Dorset based brewer and retailer, is set to invest over £2.4m in a new-build pub restaurant in Melksham, which it hopes to open in June 2014.
Creating 30 new jobs, the new pub will be called The Milk Churn, as names by local Jeanette Nash after she won a competition to name the venue.
The pub will be created to have the look and feel of a traditional country pub, keeping in mind the area’s farming heritage. There interior of the pub will therefore be constructed from traditional materials including oak beams, timber joists and flagstone floors to create a public house that wears in, not out.
On naming the pub, Jeanette Nash said “I chose ‘The Milk Churn’ because it is believed that the ‘melk’ part of the name Melksham came from the old English word for milk spelled ‘meolc’, and the second part ‘ham’ was the old English word for village.
'It’s known that the town had roots in dairy farming, so this is probably how the name Melksham came about”
In October this year Hall & Woodhouse reported turnover rose 2.8% to £96.8m in the year to 26 January 2013. Pre-tax profit was up 11.4% to £6.3m, compared to that of £5.7m in 2012. Operating profit before exceptional items increased by 7.9% to £8.3m (£7.7m in 2012).