Popular pub for sale as long-serving landlord steps back

A 300 year-old pub in Frome is up for sale as its owner for nearly two decades is stepping down to focus on his own brewery in the town.

The Griffin on Milk Street has been put on the market by landlord Rik Lyall, who also runs Frome’s Milk Street Brewery, which started in the pub’s outbuildings.

The Griffin has been in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide since 2017 and Rik says he wants to see the new owners keep the pub ‘special’ and ‘sought after’.

Rik said, “Over the nearly 20 years that I have been running the place, it has risen from the ashes of a semi-derelict building into one of the region’s most sought after public houses, attracting customers from far and wide.

“Above all else, the Griffin has been a pub for the local community. It has been, and still is, a haven with a friendly welcome and atmosphere, as well as a venue for great beer.

“The Griffin pub needs and requires an owner who can give it full and undivided attention. By trade I am a brewer and I now need to concentrate my energies on developing the Milk Street Brewery.

“I have devoted heart and soul into the Griffin for many years of my life, but now is the time for me to pass the reins on to someone else.”

Rik is now running the brewery on its new site on Commerce Park, and says it had become too difficult to run the pub at the same time. He insists the business will continue as usual.

He added, “This year is the 300th birthday of the Griffin – which makes it even more special.

“I would like to see an individual or even a group of individuals take over the pub and continue in the tradition of what the Griffin is all about.

“However, the Griffin also provides a great opportunity, with the large old brewery site at the rear of the pub available as a great production site for a bakery, roaster, kitchen school or something ‘foodie’.

“Choosing to sell something that has been part of my life for many years has not been easy. However, this is the right time to do so and to see someone else take the Griffin forward to the next exciting stage of its history.”