A COUPLE from Kent with a dream of owning their own pub have taken over a Bury town centre boozer and hope to win over locals with a new menu and a Jazz band.

Tui Sancha, 34, and Tobias Goodnight, 39, who have a decade of experience in hospitality, moved across the country to Bury after seeing a photo of The Clarence on Silver Street online.

The couple had looked at taking over other venues across the south of England but were unable to secure new ownership, until they saw the restored pub was up for sale, and “absolutely fell in love with it".

Tui and Tobias hail from Brighton and Bournemouth respectively and had never been to Manchester before moving to Bury but have since embraced life in the town.

Tui said: “It was my first time in Manchester, let alone Bury, I didn’t know what Bury would be like but everybody’s so friendly, and everyone is so welcoming, there’s a real warmness to northern hospitality.

“We sold our house to fund The Clarence, so we are all in.”

After amassing around 10 years of experience working across hospitality in bars, pubs and hotels the couple gave it up to start a graphic design business, but after a couple of years decided to return to their first love.

They hope to build the pub’s reputation and win the trust of the locals by introducing a whole new menu and holding regular events.

Bury Times: The interior of The Clarence The interior of The Clarence

“The menu has been completely changed since we took it over, all of the food is freshly prepared and freshly cooked, the chef is even talking about churning his own butter!

“We just want to be a destination place where people and come and spend the whole evening, we’ve got wine tasting, we’ve got a comedy night and we’re going to gin tasting and potentially rum tasting as well.

“We’re in the process of setting up the top floor to be a cocktail band.”

Since taking over The Clarence in December last year, Tui and Tobias have had a great response from the community.

“We’re slowly getting out there that we are completely new, independent, we’re not brewery led.

“Everybody’s that’s been coming has been really lovely and really supportive, we couldn’t have asked for a better community to move to.”