TOMMY and Jacqueline Fox weren’t the only licensees to have had big plans disrupted in the spring of 2020, but that won’t have made the delayed opening of The Barrelman any easier to take.
The pub, in Dundee city centre, had been vacant for four years before the couple took on the lease with pubco Star Pubs & Bars in late 2019.
An extensive refurbishment was planned, with the venue scheduled to open as The Barrelman in the spring of 2020. Needless to say, it didn’t work out that way.
Successive lockdowns delayed the project for over a year, so that the couple weren’t able to open the doors until May of 2021.
Star Pubs’ original concept for the refurbished pub was to open it as a German-style beer hall, but the licensees weren’t keen on the idea. Instead, they pitched the idea of developing a venue that tied into the history of the city itself.
Tommy explained: “Dundee has a history of Antarctic exploration. RSS Discovery is docked down at Discovery Point. So we went down the Discovery/explorer kind of route. Discover your new favourite spirit. Explore our range. That kind of thing.
“And after a long time we came up with the name The Barrelman, who is the little chap that sits in the barrel at the top of an exploration ship. So that’s our logo and part of the branding now for us.”
The change in direction had a bearing on the look and feel of the sizeable unit and, working with Star Pubs and architect firm DBP, the couple devised an environment that fit with The Barrelman concept.
“Jacqueline and I love going out and exploring different concepts, different sites, seeing what we like,” said Tommy.
“And I think a lot of new places at that time were still quite industrial, design-wise.
“We wanted to kind of soften up a little bit. So we retained the ideas of the large bench seating, but we upholstered them or we replaced some benches with some nice upholstered seating, which is comfortable.
“And then some nice lighting features throughout as well, so we had some bespoke chandeliers. And then in terms of the décor, there’s a little bit of foliage around as well. We’ve got two large pillars in the middle of the room – they can’t go anywhere so we had to do something with them. So we dressed them up with foliage and then at the top there’s sky wallpaper with little birds.
“I think from the very beginning we didn’t want to go too cheesy with the nautical theme. So it’s all quite quirky.”
On the drinks side, the pub sports ten draught lines and a selection of spirits from Scottish producers.
The wines, from supplier Inverarity Morton, include sustainable wine brand Sea Change.
And the food offer revolves around fresh-made favourites such as burgers, fajitas, fish and chips and steak pie as well as a selection of bao buns, pizzas and loaded fries.
There are also separate specials menus at the weekends and a dedicated brunch menu for daytime dining.
“We do what people like but we try to do it really, really well,” said Tommy.
Such has been the success of the venue that when Star Pubs was looking for a new lessee for another of its units – Bruach in Broughty Ferry – the company approached Tommy and Jacqueline to take it on.
The small but bustling suburb – just a few miles outside of Dundee city centre – sports over a dozen licensed premises, and Tommy said there’s plenty business in the village to support all of them.
“Broughty Ferry is a little more of an affluent area, so we’re able to do a little more in terms of what we can offer,” he said. “A slightly higher spend allows us to have more adventurous things in the menu that might not work in other sites.”
A smaller unit with a strong focus on food and cocktails, Bruach was already established in Broughty Ferry when Tommy and Jacqueline took the unit over. But the pair immediately spotted potential for growth, and it didn’t take long for them to make some effective changes.
Early tweaks included the introduction of a lunch menu to capture some of the booming lunch trade in the area and the launch of a Sunday night pub quiz (a Thursday quiz was already a staple at The Barrelman) to fill the venue on Sunday evenings.
And it’s unlikely the pair will stop at two units.
Tommy said that within the next year they will likely be looking to take on a third site.
“We’re absolutely looking to expand,” he said.
“And the conversations I’ve had with people who have taken on a second site and then gone to a third, they’ve said that the jump between one and two is massive, but the jump between two and three is a lot easier, because you’ve put the systems in place, you’ve got all the operations down to a tee.”
