Hopes sports makeover will give Littlehampton pub a new lease of life

A Littlehampton pub is being given a makeover by its new management.

Sussex Inns has taken over The Dolphin pub in Littlehampton High Street and turned it into a sports bar to replicate The Station Pub in Bognor Regis.

Anthony Scott, 27, is one of two general managers of The Dolphin Sports Bar. He said: “The pub opened the day before Good Friday and we got the keys about 11 days before that.

“We decided to take over this pub because of the opportunity it gave us. Sussex Inns have about 14 pubs across Sussex and I was approached by the area manager alongside my other general manager to make The Dolphin a similar place to The Station Pub in Bognor with that being a sports bar.

“The pub is a work in progress. We got the big televisions up, and before that we had people coming in saying it looks better, cleaner and that there’s more light in the place.”

The Dolphin re-opened as The Dolphin Sports Bar on April 14. Anthony said: “We absolutely exceeded expectations over that weekend, I think the excitement of this place being open again really excited the community.

“So many people have said to me they thought this pub would be turned into flats, but people are very happy to see the pub still here.”

Anthony said The Dolphin has big potential and giving the pub a new lease of life has excited him and his staff.

He added: “The plan moving forward is to start offering food and get our kitchen up and running, the beer garden will be cleared and ready for use in due course as well in the next week or two, and from there we feel that this is a place where people can come and chill out and watch sports, play pool and enjoy the offers we put on. We are also planning to refurbish the hotel rooms upstairs. We are going to get the bar right first which may take some time and get the kitchen up and running as well.”

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