{"id":555403,"date":"2025-11-07T16:16:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/555403\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T16:16:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:16:19","slug":"daughter-of-popular-bristol-landlord-takes-on-pub-after-his-sudden-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/555403\/","title":{"rendered":"Daughter of popular Bristol landlord takes on pub after his sudden death"},"content":{"rendered":"

“My dad really loved this place”<\/p>\n

11:59, 07 Nov 2025Updated 14:14, 07 Nov 2025<\/p>\n

\"NewNew landlords at the Jolly Collier Pub West Street Bristol, Thursday 6 November 2025 are Kayleigh and Graham Hook(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach PLC)<\/p>\n

The daughter of a popular South Bristol pub landlord, whose sudden death last month shocked the community and pub regulars, has told how she has been touched by the huge amount of support after she and her husband decided to take the pub on themselves.<\/p>\n

Kayleigh and Graham Hook have reopened the Jolly Colliers pub on West Street in Bedminster<\/a>. The pub closed for much of October following the tragic death of its licensee and landlord Kevin Johns. His death at the age of just 61 saw many tributes to the popular landlord<\/a>, who had a passion for grassroots football in the city, come from across Bristol.<\/p>\n

The pub faced an uncertain future, but Kayleigh and Graham – who live in Taunton – have taken the decision to step in and reopen the pub. \u201cMy dad really loved this place,\u201d said Kayleigh. \u201cHe was in here for years first as a customer. He had his favourite stool there at the end of the bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe decided to buy the lease back about five years ago because it was facing an uncertain future and I remember he said: \u2018I can\u2019t let it close, I love the place, this my pub\u2019. So he took it on himself.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Tributes to popular South Bristol pub owner who died suddenly<\/a>READ MORE: Care home residents launch their own beer – and it’s called Hundred Not Out<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Covid times so he took it on but couldn\u2019t really open it. It took a while, he invested loads in really making the outside really good – and the beer garden is one of those hidden gems I don’t think many people know about.<\/p>\n

“I think it was April 2021 when he reopened it. He had no big expectations about it, he just said \u2018I just want my pub to stay open\u2019. “<\/p>\n

His death on October 1 this year left family and friends devastated<\/a>, and the future of the pub once again uncertain. \u201cIt was a hard decision. We both have worked in the pub trade, but we live in Taunton, and there was a lot to think about,\u201d said Kayleigh.<\/p>\n

(Image: The Johns Family\/Funeral-Notices.co.uk)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019d be shaking his head, laughing at us taking it on, but it\u2019s nice that Dad will be happy knowing that his favourite place was still in the family and hopefully in good hands,\u201d she added. “We’ve been really touched by the response. We kept it low key but a lot of the regulars came back straight away and they have been so supportive of us, it’s been really lovely.”<\/p>\n

The couple quietly opened the doors again last week and have a big reopening party planned for December 5 with an indie band called Phase 90, from Exeter, playing their first-ever gig in Bristol.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe band are really excited about coming up here,\u201d said Kayleigh. \u201cWe have lots of plans for the pub, to keep my dad\u2019s plans going. His lease with Punch Taverns was due to be renewed, and they have been great with us. They had offered him a new deal which involved loads of new stuff, and he was really excited about it – and they got in touch with us and said they wanted to honour the deal they made with him for us too, which was really nice,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew landlords at the Jolly Collier Pub West Street Bristol, Thursday 6 November 2025 are Kayleigh and Graham Hook(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach PLC)<\/p>\n

Graham said the already-popular pub on West Street would see much more going on in the future. \u201cIt means we\u2019ll soon have new prices on beer and cider – lower prices to match Wetherspoons – and we\u2019ve got the live sports and we\u2019re having live music back too. We\u2019ve had some of the regular teams come back already, and we\u2019d love to hear from darts teams and pool teams,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to get interactive sports games on the screens and with the music and the football, the idea is that this is going to be a fun, really busy, pub, with a great atmosphere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“My dad really loved this place” 11:59, 07 Nov 2025Updated 14:14, 07 Nov 2025 New landlords at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[10139,381,748,393,4884,457,9419,9028,10002,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-555403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bedminster","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-people","14":"tag-places","15":"tag-pubs-and-bars-in-bristol","16":"tag-south-bristol","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115509315889733988","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}