THE doors of a recently-closed pub will be swinging open once again under the expertise of new landlords eager to take on the challenge.

The Anglers Arms in Haverthwaite will see a new lease of life under its new landlords Dani and Vaslie ‘Pav’ Pavalascu.

The Old Barrow Road pub, which has been closed since October, will be reopening next month following a deep clean and menu change-up.

New landlords Dani and Pav have been living in Cumbria for the past 19 years, working in numerous pubs and hotels in the Lake District area, but had always set their sights on running a place of their own.

Pav formerly ran the Queen’s Head in Troutbeck for five years before moving to the Langdale Estate and then completing eight years at the Whitewater Hotel.

Dani works as head housekeeper at Rothay Manor in Ambleside and hopes to help her husband part-time in his new role of landlord at The Anglers Arms.

Pav said: “This is my first time being a landlord so we’re really excited. Both of us have experience in hospitality – we’ve done it all our lives.

“It’s definitely different running a pub for yourself rather than for someone else. We both didn’t want to work for someone else anymore – we wanted to do something for ourselves.

“Dani is going to help me where she can and we will see what happens as the business grows.”

Pav was ‘chuffed’ when his application to take over as landlord of the Thwaites-owned pub was successful.

He said: “We didn’t know if the pub was available or not – I’d already applied for a few landlord jobs in Cumbria but hadn’t been successful. When we heard about the Anglers, I applied on the Thwaites website and they called straight away for an interview.

“I was so excited when they said I had the job. I couldn’t believe I’d be running my own place.”

Pav hopes to create a more ‘gastro’ style menu under the expertise of two ‘brilliant’ chefs.

“Our target is to eventually create a more gastro pub menu,” he said.

“We have two brilliant chefs so we hope that’s achievable. The main thing is to get the locals back through our doors and meet our customers. I know how important a local pub is to people, we want to create a great relationship with our customers.

“The feedback has been amazing since we announced we would be taking over.

“We’re confident this is going to be a success – it’s nerve-wracking but exciting.”

The Anglers Arms will be opening its doors on March 20.