Team behind award-winning Holyport pub enters 'bold new era’ at The Beehive

The team behind an award-winning pub in Holyport ‘is entering a bold new era’ by acquiring the keys to The Beehive in White Waltham.

After two years, Milaanj at the Beehive closed its doors on Friday, September 26, and The Beehive will reopen tomorrow (Saturday) under the stewardship of David Thompson.

The 42-year-old has been at the helm of The Belgian Arms for eight years, which is currently ranked in the Estrella Damm Top 100 Gastropubs list and holds an AA Rosette for food.

He said operating a second ‘beautiful 18th-century pub’ will be the ‘next step’ for his team.

“The chef has been there for six-and-a-half years, and he’s moving over to The Beehive, so it’s giving us all a new challenge,” added David.

“The Belgian Arms is ticking away nicely and established, which has given us the fortune to be able to push ourselves and do what we do well and do it again, so we’re all moving up in our careers.”

The 20-strong team at their new Waltham Road site will be led by general manager Declan Wilkins, who has left the Tom Kerridge Group after eight years of working at the Hand and Flowers in Marlow and opening Kerridge’s Butchers Tap and Grill in London.

By being an ‘inviting’ pub with popular Scotch eggs, the team hope to ‘do exactly what we’ve done’ at The Belgian Arms and bring The Beehive back to the community.

“We’ll make it feel like you can pop in for a pint when you’re walking the dog or in the morning can come in for business lunches and coffees,” said David.

“We’re open all day so that we won’t be kicking anyone out after lunch. People can use the pub as it’s always been a pub.”

The Beehive will be open seven days a week from 11.30am to 11pm with food served between 12pm and 9pm daily.

“We're really fortunate at The Belgian Arms – we’ve brought it back to life,” said David.

“We’re always fully booked for the [Sunday] roasts, so when we get fully booked at the Belgian Arms, we can fill up at The Beehive.

“That side of Maidenhead is perfect for us. Both pubs were built roughly at the same time, overlooking the cricket club, so two pubs in two good places. We're going to make it fun and new.”

This is by serving ‘good drinks and seasonal food’ and keeping the ‘pub fuel’ with pub classics as well as more ‘cheffy’ dishes to keep chefs entertained.

“Trying to keep a pub like it was, but an updated version,” added David.

“We're fortunate enough to take these pubs on – basically caretakers trying to get the best out of them in our tenure, and one day we’ll hand it down to somebody else to take the reins.”

They weren’t ‘quite ready’ when The Beehive first went on the market, but the ‘timing was absolutely perfect’ the second time around.

“[I] was disappointed we couldn’t get it 18 months ago, but as soon as it came on the market, guns blazing, and we managed to pick it up,” said David.

“I’d driven past it when Dom Chapman first took over.

“I didn’t go in for lunch or dinner, but parked in the car park and looked at the pub, and I think I fell in love with it.

“It was night-time, all the lights were on, and it looked like a really nice site, well-positioned, so I think I’ve always quite liked that site.

“You've got to be able to work there, put so much time and energy, and you really do have to love the pub and need an interest in making the pub what it was and what it’s always been.”

The Beehive will reopen at 11.30am on Saturday to ‘get the door open and get some Christmas bookings’ before closing for refurbishment in early January to reopen as a ‘nice fresh pub to begin the new year with’.