Over the course of just under two weeks, Amy, Becky Hicks (Activities Coordinator) and Brian Thornton (Maintenance Officer) worked incredibly hard to both create their vintage pub complete with a wooden bar, duly named The Pembury Arms, and to keep it a secret from the rest of the team until the day of the big reveal.
While it may have been raining buckets outside during the grand opening on Friday 8th February 2019, inside was all smiles, laughs and songs as residents, relatives, staff and local members of the community finally crossed the threshold into a vintage pub reminiscent of years gone by. From vintage 1940s wallpaper, to fascinating photos and a variety of memorabilia adorning the walls, to a bar fully stocked with beer, wine, lager, pork scratchings and much more, The Pembury Arms inspires immediate feelings of magic and love. Of course, no vintage pub would be complete without a good old singalong and knees-up, so there’s even a piano for anyone who fancies tickling the ivories.
First over the threshold was the Mayor of Maidstone, Cllr David Naghi, who declared The Pembury Arms officially open for business and then immediately took up pole position on the piano where he led our residents and all of our guests in a rousing singalong of all of their favourite songs. Local press, Kent Messenger and the Downs Mail, attended the opening and included glowing reviews within their newspapers over the next few weeks.
Amy’s inspiration came from her parents who ran two pubs in Kent named The Bull and The White Hart. “The Pembury Arms is somewhere our residents can socialise and reminisce. Everyone has been so supportive and helpful, and I’m happy to take on the role of landlady!”
Since it’s opening, our pub in our residential dementia and nursing care home has hosted pub quizzes as well as a wine and cheese afternoon, the latter of which was such a success that this has now turned into a monthly feature. Our next pub event will start at 2pm on Tuesday 26th March 2019.
If you would like to join us at The Pembury Arms for our cheese and wine afternoon (first Tuesday of each month), or to put your trivia knowledge to the test (last Tuesday of each month), or even if you would like to just pop in for a chat and to raise a glass to celebrate our residents continued and valued contribution to our lives, please email us on activities.maidstone@www.rchcarehomes.co.uk or call us on 01622 672 292
If pub quizzes or wine and cheese sessions aren’t quite your cup of tea, we also host Coffee Afternoons and Fish ‘n’ Chips Fridays for anyone in the local community who wants to join us and make some new friends. If you would like further details about these events, please email us on activities.maidstone@www.rchcarehomes.co.uk or call us on 01622 672 292. We look forward to seeing you soon!
