Crowborough’s White Hart on the Green is celebrating being named one of the best family pubs in Britain, having won the hearts of its local community with its warm welcome and great range of food and drink.

The White Hart was facing an uncertain future when it was acquired by Stonegate Pub Company in 2015 and relaunched following a £500,000 investment. At the heart of the pub is the family running it, the General Manager Robin Mallia and his wife Michelle, who have a young family of their own and have worked hard to mould the White Hart into into a family inn like no other, earning themselves a place in the finals of the prestigious John Smith’s Great British Pub Awards.

“This has been such an amazing journey for us. We’re a family running a family pub and we’ve worked spectacularly hard to create a wonderful hub for our local community. This pub won Best Family Pub of the Year about 20 years ago, and it would be a massive achievement for us to bring this prize back to the White Hart and Crowborough,” said Robin.

“To be recognised nationally as one of the best is absolutely incredible. We’re all so very excited – we held a celebration here last week to say thanks to our brilliant team of people, who are themselves part of the White Hart’s own family.

“The feedback we’ve been getting from our community has been fantastic too – everyone is overjoyed. The atmosphere here is incredible and Michelle and I are over the moon.”

The White Hart has benefitted from a total £500,000-worth of investment over the last three years to give the town and its local community a pub they would want to support and would be proud of. The redevelopment of the pub also created 25 new jobs for people in the local area. In addition, three managers at the pub are developing first class careers in the hospitality industry, thanks to the support of Stonegate Pub Company’s own career pathway scheme.

Going above and beyond with the family offering is what’s at the heart of these awards, and that is what the White Hart on the Green has proved to be very successful in doing.

The pub has a great value £3.99 menu for children (which is equally enjoyed by older customers with smaller appetites). There’s a focus on healthy, tasty food and drink created to appeal to young kids with a range of healthy pick ’n’ mix options on the menu and a variety of drinks, including delicious home-made lemonade, all to make it easier for parents who would like to steer clear of high-sugar, fizzy drinks. During the half-term holidays, special offers include ‘kids eating for £1’.

The White Hart has table service, allowing anyone with children the chance to relax, and a large ‘smoke-free’ garden, but to make sure everyone is happy and well catered for, it also has a pavilion for smokers to enjoy. Dogs are welcome and treated as members of the wider family with water stations for thirsty hounds.

There are weekly quiz nights, Sunday roasts and meal deals throughout the week, including: 50% ‘Monday Madness’; Burger Night on Wednesdays, with a burger and drink for just £10; Steak Night on Thursdays offering a class grill for just £7.99; and Fizz Fridays with bottles of bubbly on special offer. For the over-65s there’s the Privilege Club, with 25% savings.

Events are a key part of the White Hart’s offering too, with fetes and fun-days held during school holidays and over the long weekends.

Ed Bedington, organiser of the John Smith’s Great British Pub Awards, said: “These awards are the most rigorous of their kind for the pub sector and it’s a real achievement to make it this far into the competition.”

The judging process is three-rounds and includes a visit by the judges as part of the final process. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on September 6.

The White Hart on the Green is one of just five finalists in the John Smith’s Great British Pub Awards 2018’s ‘Best Family Pub’ category.

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The White Hart on the Green, Church Road, Crowborough, TN6 2XZ. T: 01892 611 849 http://www.classicinns.co.uk/whitehartonthegreen

 

Contact: Leisure PR

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