THE Full Moon at Rudge has had a turbulent three years with uncertainty on whether it would remain. However, local publican Mark Hey and his partner Liz Chamberlain, have taken over and saved the pub from extinction.
Suffering in administration for the past three years, and having no money invested into the facilities has left The Full Moon at Rudge placed in the back of people’s mind. Also, the reluctance to sell the pub separately to the hotel and swimming pool caused further delays.
However, Mark Hey and Liz Chamberlain have the previous experience of breathing new life into pubs and the couple want to inject some excitement into this local asset. Mark previously has transformed the Wookey Hole Inn, Somerset, with it now having won country-wide recognition and in 2010, he purchased The Sheppey in Glastonbury alongside his partner and is continuing his project to transform it.
Now, he looks to The Full Moon with intent. As a lover of Frome, seeing the pub as a great located area between all the major towns across the area, he is providing interesting ideas to revamp and bring life back to the rural setting.
Mark Hey said, “We would love everyone to know what we are getting up to, we want people to join in the progress and watch the changes. We want to give people a reason to come out here. I have a really good plan, there are definitely going to be major changes.
“The first big change we are making is we are adapting the overall name of the pub, it will no longer be The Full Moon at Rudge, just simply, The Moon.
“Also, we would like to host interesting beers, we are hoping to have 16 ever-changing beers and become a huge beer destination. We are planning to create a small micro-brewery and even have our own in-house beer called ‘Moon Beer.’
“We are changing up the food style too, adapting to cooking over a wood-fired cooker with an open-kitchen serving a Mediterranean-style menu. It’s an ongoing process, but we are currently serving food Wednesday-Saturday lunchtimes featuring a select few dishes that we look to enhance.
“Forward thinking, we would love to have a large barbecue outside as we want to make a big thing of the garden area. It is an idea of mine to work with local artists and sculptures in the area to fill the pub and gardens with interesting pieces. If anyone is interested, I would love to hear from you.
“Once we are fully up and running we are interested in having live music, to continue on the local, community atmosphere and we also have a large function room that can cater for 100 people.”
The Moon makes the best of its rural setting and is about 20 minutes from Bath, handy for Longleat Safari Park and close to the thriving local towns of Frome, Trowbridge and Westbury.
For more information about the changes and what The Moon have to offer please call the team on 01373 830936.
