St Leonards pub landlord to retire after 2 years at the helm - 'It's been absolutely brilliant'

Grant Hayes, landlord of the North Star, just off Bohemia Road announced he is retiring on March 31.

He has run the venue for the last two years, providing a lifeline for elderly and vulnerable people struggling to heat their homes during the winter, offering free hot drinks.

Grant has been running his own pubs for the last 20 years and worked on pleasure boats on the River Thames before that.

He said: “I came to the North Star in February 2023. But I've been in and out of the pub for about 10 years since I lived in Hastings. So I knew a lot about the pub before I even took it over.

“It's been an absolute crack working here. It's been fun. I've loved every minute of it. It's a brilliant little pub. It's got some great customers, some real characters here.

“It's one of the friendliest pubs I've known for a long, long time. I'm going to miss that, the whole atmosphere, everything that goes on with a cheesy bingo and the karaoke and the charity nights that we do. I’ll miss the people that I've got working for me.”

Grant said he plans to ‘take it easy for a few months’ when he retires, as well as getting back into playing golf and ‘get a bit more serious about playing darts’.

He said: “They're interviewing people at the moment to come in. They're hoping to keep it within Craft Union because they know how the system all works. There's a lot of people that do want this pub because it's one of the best performing pubs within Craft Union in the entire country for the percentages.

“Within three or four weeks, there'll be someone here taking over. Hopefully they'll keep a lot of the same things going on, but they'll bring their own energy, their own ideas, and their own way of doing things to the pub.

“I also hope they keep all the charity stuff going because we've done a lot for charity in this pub. To all the regulars, I'd like to say thank you for a wonderful two years. It's been absolutely brilliant.

“It's not only the pub that has grown, I've also grown since I've been here. Since I've been in this pub, I met a wonderful woman and got married just the other week.”