The Fish Pond Matlock Bath features in our latest Love your local
The Fish Pond Matlock Bath features in our latest Love your local feature.
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00:00 [Music]
00:08 Pubs have been a cornerstone of our local communities for centuries,
00:11 offering a place for people to meet together and socialise,
00:14 as well as providing thousands of jobs and a cornerstone of the local economy.
00:18 Here we go behind the bar to meet the people who run our pubs
00:21 and say why it's important for you to love your local.
00:24 I'm Simon, I've been involved with the Fish Pond since 2018,
00:30 under the previous owner, I helped just do some consultancy with Trevor,
00:35 and then we took on the lease in 2019,
00:39 and then Covid came around a few months later,
00:41 and pretty much wiped out, decimated the trade or anything we'd built
00:45 for the following two years,
00:47 and then we actually bought the property in December last year.
00:52 Hi, I'm Lily, we're at the Fish Pond in Matlock Bath.
00:57 I've been here about seven years now,
01:00 I do events, so I'm the events manager.
01:03 I hold lots of events here at the Fish Pond, inside and outside.
01:09 Is there any popular events that you have?
01:12 We hold a few music festivals,
01:15 so we've been doing music festivals for about ten years.
01:19 The last few years we've made them quite a lot bigger than usual,
01:23 so over a two-day period.
01:26 We have three stages, inside and out.
01:29 We normally have about eight to twelve bands play inside and out.
01:33 Normally our pizza oven's open and we put on a grill,
01:37 so that gets quite lively and fun.
01:40 We have a lot of weddings here as well,
01:42 so not many people know, but we do hold weddings.
01:45 We've got two big function rooms upstairs,
01:48 so we can fit about 150 people in.
01:51 We can have ceremonies here and receptions,
01:55 so quite a few weddings booked.
01:58 Parties, we have tribute bands on in our ballroom,
02:02 so we can fit about 130 people in the ballroom.
02:06 It's self-contained with its own bar and toilets.
02:09 We've had a few comedy nights here,
02:12 so anything and everything we have upstairs in our rooms.
02:16 We do home-cooked food, so everything's made fresh.
02:20 Our menu changes seasonal.
02:23 Winter menu, we have pies, sausage and mash.
02:27 We have specials on weekly as well,
02:30 so the chefs come up with specials either every few days or weekly.
02:35 We're very known for our pizzas here at the Fish Pond,
02:38 so we do homemade pizzas in our pizza hut.
02:42 We've just refurbished that, so that'll be all ready and open for the summer.
02:47 So the public can sit on the terrace and watch the chef cook the pizza,
02:51 so that's very nice.
02:53 We've got quite a lot of offers on as well,
02:56 so we have pizza and a pint for £12 every Wednesday,
02:59 so that goes down well with the customers.
03:03 What drinks do you serve?
03:06 We do a lot of Cascades, and we like to source our beer locally too,
03:11 so loads of local breweries and microbreweries from around.
03:15 We have tons of gins too, and as well we try and get them local.
03:21 Lots of local wine and craft cans,
03:26 so yes, a wide range of drinks on the bar.
03:29 Any future events that you've got going?
03:32 We've got a tribute Fleetwood Mac in April.
03:39 We've also got a medium spiritual night,
03:43 so that's the first one we've had in a while,
03:46 so we're really excited about that.
03:49 And then we've got our festival in the summer,
03:51 so that's the first weekend in July.
03:54 That's bigger than we've done before, so that's over a two-day period.
03:59 And then every Thursday we have an acoustic night downstairs,
04:02 and then live music every Friday and Saturday downstairs on the bar.
04:07 And on a Sunday we have open mic, so lots to keep us busy.
04:12 How many people work at the Fish Pond?
04:16 I think we've got about 25 staff altogether, so that includes the kitchen.
04:22 We've got about six chefs, three or four potwashers,
04:28 and then out front staff make up the rest.
04:32 And then we've got obviously handymen, the boss, so quite a lot of staff.
04:37 The best part about working here?
04:40 Probably just be the range of things we do.
04:43 So when we get new staff work here, everyone says,
04:46 "Oh wow, it's so different to just working in a normal pub."
04:49 We have so many events on, like I said, live music every weekend.
04:53 It's just a really fun place to work, and obviously the festival's going on,
04:58 the food, weddings, it's just kind of a nice mix of everything really,
05:03 so you're never just doing one thing.
05:05 So all the new staff always say, "Oh, it's so nice, different to other pubs to work."
05:11 So that's why I like working here.