Paul John Moss, 49, is an Englishman who has lived in Germany for 25 years. Throughout this time there is one aspect of living in England that he’s not stopped missing – the traditional English pub. To solve his problem he recently moved an entire pub from Yorkshire to the town of Iserlohn.
The New Crown Inn in Bridlington had been sold to developers, and was about to be turned into luxury flats, when Mr. Moss decided to purchase everything from inside the building, including all fittings and fixtures, from the mahogany bar, beer taps and pint glasses and ship. Then all that was left to do was to shop his acquired items the 400 miles to their new home.
Moss set about reassembling the pub piece by piece and last week, after two years of hard graft, he finally opened his pub’s doors to customers.
Speaking on his purchase and project Mr Moss said:
“My wife thinks I’m nuts – all my mates think I’m a hero.
“German pubs are nice, but they all have a similar clean, modern style – I wanted something more scruffy and traditional. It’s not something you can put your finger on but there’s just such a nice, cosy vibe in an English pub – and we have managed to recreate that authentically here.
“So far it’s been a raving success – we’ve been packed every day. We’re in it for the long run and hope The New Crown will one day become a pillar of the Iserlohn community.”
Charles Gardner and Fleur Beakin, are an English couple who now run the pub. They moved from the UK to take on the challenge, not only pouring pints they also serve traditional pub grub such as fish and chips, steak and ale pie and a Sunday roast alongside more than 70 beers, including British ales such as London Pride and Newcastle Brown Ale.
We can only imagine the atmosphere inside the New Crown Inn as the English football team romped home a highly polished 2-0 victory over a flailing German side in the European Cup.
To make reservations for yourself, head over to the pub’s Facebook page.