To add a little more to the Star discussion. The pub has actually been there in one form or another since the very early days of Pleasure Beach. It was however never owned by the Pleasure Beach. This was a thorn in Geoffrey’s side for many years, especially in his vision of improving BPB’s food offerings. There were several attempts to prise the ownership of the Star away and this eventually succeeded, I understand maybe around the mid-90s.
The pub then saw a bit of a renovation. You may remember the lighting added (there were thousands of fairy lights adorning the walls until a few years ago) and the porch at the front was also added. They also changed the signage - if you notice the signs look very similar to the Big Blue Hotel’s older logo.
Fast forward to its closure for several years - this neatly coincided with South entrance’s closure and the massive reduction in foot traffic. There is an irony in Geoffrey spending years trying to acquire the place for it only to be shut down so soon after he eventually did. It did then reopen briefly as the Apple and Parrot as Katy mentioned. This was a franchise.
After this closure it subsequently reopened again and in 2016 had a reasonably successful year as The Star, following a similar concept to the Apple and Parrot. It would open weekends only and have live bands on, which tended to attract quite a few people. This was the park apparently just giving it a go. There was some advertising within BPB for its reopening, however the issue always was that there is very little passing tourist trade, so to be truly successful the marketing for the place would have had to be much more intense to increase awareness.
At the end of the 2016 season the pub again closed with no official word on the reason. It was at that point unclear if it had just closed for the season and would reopen for 2017, or if the closure was for good. It turned out that it would never reopen. The interior as of today has had some abuse although is substantially still there. Obviously we’re likely to see it disappear for good very soon.
I really liked the place. The interior was of a good quality, with the split levels, a handsome long bar against the back wall and plenty of details all around. It was cosy and it always felt like you were stepping back into BPB’s 90s heyday when you were in there. Plus the drinks were generally cheaper than Velvet Coaster.
It’s a real shame to see it go. Hopefully the new bar being built in the upper floor of Coasters will be a decent replacement.
