Meet the new face behind the bar as Kettering pub reopens

A woman who reopened a Kettering pub just seven weeks after it was closed says she hopes to make it the heart of the community again.

Nina Hammond is the new tenant at The Cordwainer, on the corner of Bath Road and Cedar Road, and welcomed her first customers on September 9.

She will be a familiar face to some town drinkers, having previously run the Prince of Wales and The Shire Horse.

And Nina is looking forward getting to know the community at the estate pub with her three-year-old daughter Esmé.

The 39-year-old said: "It’s in the middle of families and a real community and I love to host events.

"I like a pub to be family-based rather than just a drinking pub and we want to be at the heart of the community.

"This pub has got a lot of potential.”

The Cordwainer had shut its doors on July 22 but, at the time, pub owners Trust Inns were confident that pints would be poured again very soon.

The pub’s kitchen will also reopen in a couple of weeks, starting with Sunday lunches before progressing to having a full menu.

Nina will host family events in the pub’s function room along with live bands and music – and she wants the venue to be affordable given the cost of living crisis.

She said: "People are struggling at the minute and I feel that, for people’s wellbeing, they need a hub where everyone is in the same boat.

"That’s what I want the pub to be and we want to make it feel like a home from home. We’re trying to keep it as affordable as we can.”

Four jobs have been created with more to come when the kitchen reopens. The pub is currently closed on Mondays but will be open seven days a week when they start offering food again.

Kettering born and bred Nina said she has now worked in nearly every pub in the town – and it’s a job like no other.

She said: "I’ve worked in office jobs but I always come back to pubs.

"Every single day is different, the conversations are different, who walks in the door can be different. I love it.”