Shildon Community Pub Reopens Following £340,000 Makeover
- Guild Secretary
- Aug 14
- 3 min read
The Royal George Tavern on Main Street in Shildon officially reopened on Friday 8th August following a transformational investment of more than £340,000. The pub is part of Proper Pubs, the awardwinning community wet-led operator division of Admiral Taverns, which operates more than 200 pubs across England, Scotland and Wales.
Inside, the pub has been completely transformed to include a brand-new bar area and games room – complete with an Omni Target dart board and professional grade pool table – along with multiple flat screen televisions featuring Sky, TNT Sports and horse racing channels. As part of the investment, The Royal George also boasts brand new flooring, fixtures, fittings and furniture to elevate the overall look and feel of the pub.
Outside, the pub hosts brand new lighting and signage to greet customers as well as a newly revamped, spacious beer garden – seating up to 50 people – with atmospheric festoon lighting.
The Royal George officially reopened to the community on Friday 8th August and celebrated with a fizz reception and an exciting evening of live entertainment, including a live performance from local band, Mad Manners.
The pub offers a wide range of drinks promotions, including Wine Wednesday, where customers can get £2 off a bottle, Fizz Friday, offering customers a bottle of fizz for £10, along with cocktails, bottle and shot deals throughout the week.
Beth Finch, Operator of The Royal George Tavern, said: “Bringing our vision for the pub to life has been a really exciting process and I can’t believe how fantastic it looks! Opening night was a huge success and the feedback we’ve already received from customers has been amazing.
I’d like to thank everyone at Proper Pubs, the fantastic team here at The Royal George and of course the wonderful people of Shildon for all their ongoing support throughout this journey”.
On top of the fantastic drink's selection, the pub will host a busy schedule of regular entertainment including live music and DJ sets every weekend, pool and darts teams on Wednesdays and Thursdays as well as weekly craft clubs and bingo nights.
Since taking over The Royal George, the operators have – and will continue to – collected food to donate to a local foodbank and have raised enough money to have a lifesaving defibrillator installed. Going forward, they plan to run fundraising events for local charity, Tiny Lives Trust, that supports premature and sick newborns and their families.
Nikki Greenhalgh, Operations Director for Proper Pubs, said: “It’s been great having Beth and Lee at The Royal George and I’m delighted that opening night was so enjoyable for the community!
On behalf of myself and the Proper Pubs team, I want to thank Beth and Lee for their incredible efforts at The Royal George so far, and I wish them the very best of luck for the future.”
Proper Pubs is always looking for ways to support its communities through an annual schedule of events and fundraising initiatives and in March 2024, it was crowned Community Pub Operator at the Publican Awards. Most recently, the Group collected over 20,000 Easter Eggs to donate to communities in need and raised nearly £100,000 in just three months for various local charities across the UK. Last year, Proper Pubs also successfully donated enough food to local foodbanks across the UK to feed 1,300 people for a week and has also been recognised UK-wide defibrillator installation campaign which has already saved 11 lives.
The Royal George Tavern, 11-13 Main Street, Shildon, Durham, DL4 1AJ
Ends
Notes to Editors
Admiral Taverns (“Admiral”) is the UK’s number one community pub group. Headquartered in Chester; the Group operates a national estate of c.1,420 predominantly wet-led community pubs. Admiral’s unique operational approach has earnt industry recognition with the Group winning Best Community Pub Operator at the 2024 Publican Awards, whilst also being shortlisted for Best Partnership Pub Company (501+ Sites). In 2019, 2016 and 2013, Admiral Taverns won Best Leased and Tenanted Pub Company at the Publican Awards and ranked highly commended as Best Community Pub Operator in 2017. The Group has also been consistently highly rated by licensees in the industry’s independent annual Tenant Track survey, exceeding the scores of all its national peers.
Media Enquiries
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