Donna and David Davis have re-opened the Shepherd Neame-owned Railway Hotel, in Faversham — with more than a little help from family and friends.
Left to right are Donn Davis, bar team member Richard Paul, bar manager Sarah Beeney, and David Davis
The couple have three sons, and the whole family have come together to get the business up and running. Ollie, 18, is working as a team member in the bar, while 21-year-old Ben’s fiancée, Sarah Beeney, has taken on the role of bar manager.
Sam, 16, is a drummer in local band Penny Spent, and he will be making his contribution by opening the pub’s Hop Festival entertainment this weekend with a performance on Friday evening (1st September).
The couple also enlisted help from other family members and friends to undertake extensive refurbishment of the pub’s spacious bar area and seven en-suite bedrooms during the past few weeks, before it reopened to the public on 18th August.
“I worked in pubs in Surrey at the end of the 1990s, and Donna also worked on the bar at the old Wembley Stadium during that time, so we both have hospitality experience, but we have never run a pub before,” said David.
“I own a garage in Margate and Donna’s been running a nursery in Westgate-in-Sea for the past seven years, but about three years ago we began thinking of ways in which we could come together with our boys to build a family business, and a pub seemed ideal.”
He added: “The Railway Hotel is such a beautiful building in the heart of Faversham, and we could see it had a huge amount of potential. We contacted Shepherd Neame with our ideas for the business, and we were delighted when they gave us the go-ahead to take it on.”
