It was back in March 2022 that MyMarlow first revealed that JD Wetherspoon had purchased the M&Co site in Marlow, so it’s been some time coming, but the new pub will be opening this month. Here’s the official word from Wetherspoons themselves 🙂
Pub operator JD Wetherspoon is to open its new pub in Marlow, on Tuesday, 24 September, 2024 with the creation of 70 new jobs.
The company has spent £3.5 million developing the pub, in Market Square, in the former M&Co store.
The new pub, which will be called The Grand Assembly, will be managed by Rachel Turner, previously an area manager with the company.
The new pub takes its name from the Grand Assemblies that were once held in the former Market House adjacent to the site. Typical of the 18th and 19th century, assembly halls provided gathering spaces for members of the higher social classes and played host to masquerade balls, public concerts and general assemblies.
In the late 18th century, local member of parliament Thomas Williams offered to pay for the demolition of the Market House and erection of a new more substantial building on the site. Following his death in 1802, the initiative was implemented by his son, Owen Williams. The assembly room continued to host major public events until the 1960s.
The Grand Assembly pub will be open from 8am until 12 midnight Sunday to Thursday (alcohol served until 11.30pm) and from 8am until 1am on Friday and Saturday (alcohol served until 12.30am).
Food will be served throughout the day, from opening until 11pm every day.
The new pub will specialise in real ales and traditional ciders, as well as craft and world beers, serving a wide range of different draught ales, as well as bottled beers, including those from local and regional brewers.
It will be open for family dining, with children, accompanied by an adult, welcome in the pub up until 10pm, throughout the week.
The pub will be wheelchair accessible and have a specially adapted toilet for people with disabilities.
The new pub interior design is inspired by traditional pubs, gin palaces and grand assembly halls of the Victorian era with a modern industrial twist, amalgamating old and new design elements.
Links to the site history, as the premises of Batting & Son’s Ironmongers from the 1820s until c1960, are also included, while giving subtle nods to Frankenstein – written by Mary Shelley, who lived in a cottage a stone’s throw from the site, while writing the gothic novel in 1817.
Design elements have also been heavily inspired by the town’s connection to The Thames; notably the industry it brought to the area in the early establishment of the town, as well as its rich rowing heritage.
Historical photos and details of local history, as well as artwork and images of local scenes and characters of the area, are also displayed in the pub, together with artwork commissioned by local artists.
There is a terraced courtyard beer garden at the rear of the pub. Wetherspoon has worked with local charities ‘Wild Marlow’ and ‘Bisham Nest Box Group’, to provide nesting sites for swifts (a recently red-listed species) and bats, while promoting pollinating insects and bees, with tailored planting in the garden.
Pub manager Rachel Turner said: “Myself and my team are looking forward to welcoming customers into The Grand Assembly and we are confident that the pub will be a great addition to Marlow’s social scene.”
