I guess one difference with the Star is he’s worked with them for a long time before this move inside i.e. he knows exactly who and what he’s working with. I appreciate his previous standpoints but he obviously feels this can work....people do compromise and people do change.....even Mr Troll. I’m guessing the kitchen will be out of sight; don’t they have a large redundant space in the basement where they once brewed beer?
As for table space, I guess he will serve food in a format similar to what he currently does and folk will eat it at the current tables or on-the-hoof. I can’t see them putting out table cloths and cutlery. But who knows, the past year has provided an opportunity for businesses to reassess and adapt or change and it’s something I’m seeing elsewhere...maybe there will be a surprise and a significant change to the pub?
For some weird reason this put me in mind of The Blue Anchor. The Thai food there is absolutely excellent and Apple, the chef, is very much her own person. However, in normal times, it's still a proper blokes pub with shit lager and a pool table - nothing pretentious at all. Though the owners have turned the saloon bar into a restaurant space, which you don't have in the Star, there's nothing to stop you having a red curry while you're playing pool or watching footy if that's what you want and they do take away for phone orders and passing trade. Furthermore, the mass produced lager and cider works better with their spicy dishes than a more complex beer IMO. It shouldn't work - but it does.
This has the potential to simply be good beer with delicious, sustainable and wankily pretentious large beer snacks. It's making me hanker for the end of lockdown even more TBF. Sigh.