Newport pub bucks trend and opens doors

12:20pm Tuesday 5th March 2013 in Gwent news

CHEERS: Nick Portman is the landlord of the newly re-opened the Golden Hart on Cardiff Road, Newport CHEERS: Nick Portman is the landlord of the newly re-opened the Golden Hart on Cardiff Road, Newport

PLENTY of pubs have disappeared from Newport in the past few months but one landlord is attempting to fight back.

Nick Portman, 44, has worked in the pub trade in Newport for eight years, and has now taken over the Golden Hart in Cardiff Road in the city.

A passionate pub man, Mr Portman has no doubts about the importance a thriving local has in its community.

Having run the Oddfellows and Foresters in Baneswell until it was forced to close so work could begin on turning it into houses last month, Mr Portman says a good local is a key focus for the community.

“The Oddfellows was a great pub with brilliant people and fantastic staff and we are trying to capture that again at the Golden Hart. It’s about creating that great community atmosphere.

“I have seen pub trade drop off across the city but this is what I do. Running pubs is my life and I love it, it never crossed my mind to not take on another pub.”

Mr Portman also hopes to make the Golden Hart a hub for live music, thanks to help from musician Mark Pontin.

“We will have a live band every Friday. I need to say a big thank-you to Mark for that, he’s been a massive help.”

Comments(10)

Ianto130 says...
1:10pm Tue 5 Mar 13

Good luck, we need more decent pubs, hopefully selling real ale. Too many landlords think all they have to do is open their doors and the world owes them a living. The Riverside ran out of real ale on Friday and we only stayed because the excellent Cherrybeats were on. Nine of us walked out of the Ridgeway inn on Sunday because they ran out of decent beer. We won't be back to either until we can be certain things have improved.

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moogieenglish@hotmail.co.uk says...
1:43pm Tue 5 Mar 13

good luck , all power to your elbow...wish you every sucsess

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Pawl says...
4:27pm Tue 5 Mar 13

I agree with Ianto. Keeping decent real ale and hoepfully craft cider and perry is the starting point for a good pub. The last Landlord at least stocked a locally produced cider and Perry - Troggi.

Newport also has an excellent brewery in Tiny Rebel. Why not concentrate on quality local produce - food as well as beer and cider. It works in other places, why not Newport?

There are too many places selling bland fizzy beers and lagers and ciders like Strongbow and Magners, but sadly locally too few pubs - The Pen and Wig excluded, selling the excellent stuff we produce in Newport and Gwent.

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scraptheWAG says...
8:08pm Tue 5 Mar 13

good luck to him

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willow181 says...
8:11am Wed 6 Mar 13

Good luck look forward to Friday nights & live bands .

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high x boy says...
4:09pm Wed 6 Mar 13

hope it works out for you.good luck.

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Floppy backed says...
4:42pm Wed 6 Mar 13

Also lets get pubs cleaned up, basic decent clean toilets, clean floor and dump those disgusting carpets.

And for us ladies decent quality wine please, wine on pump or in a box is no longer acceptable!

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Big Bus Driver says...
7:55pm Wed 6 Mar 13

he may need something stronger than squash when he meets all the regulars.

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tanya1992 says...
10:20pm Wed 6 Mar 13

what a joke how many people out there has this man ripped off??or tried to ? he tried to rip my sister off we was in there working painting and clean and running the pub for there 1st 2 weeks off it being open! my sister was suppose to be using her licence when it came through instead of paying someone to use theirs! that was until we ran out of certain spirits .. house vodka, house brandy and jamesons he asked my sister and myself to fill uk bottles up from cheap bottles from abored and still charged costumers uk price's for the shorts !!my sister was dead against it an said u could get a 5000 fine! he tryed to make out the stock was to avoid paying her what she worked really hard for but got proven wrong an had to pay up , then he got rid of her. we also heard he has done this before to a few other people ..who should come forward and put a stop to this man .. this man cannot get his own pub licence as he hold criminal records, he shouldn't have a put but hey that's the law! an it stinks .. so if u decide to drink in the golden hart well don't say u wasn't warned

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tanya1992 says...
10:24pm Wed 6 Mar 13

what a joke how many people out there has this man ripped off??or tried to ? he tried to rip my sister off we was in there working painting and clean and running the pub for there 1st 2 weeks off it being open! my sister was suppose to be using her licence when it came through instead of paying someone to use theirs! that was until we ran out of certain spirits .. house vodka, house brandy and jamesons he asked my sister and myself to fill uk bottles up from cheap bottles from abored and still charged costumers uk price's for the shorts !!my sister was dead against it an said u could get a 5000 fine! he tryed to make out the stock was to avoid paying her what she worked really hard for but got proven wrong an had to pay up , then he got rid of her. we also heard he has done this before to a few other people ..who should come forward and put a stop to this man .. this man cannot get his own pub licence as he hold criminal records, he shouldn't have a pub but hey that's the law! an it stinks .. so if u decide to drink in the golden hart well don't say u wasn't warned

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