We visited a Wolverhampton pub which once laid dormant and derelict - but is now vibrant and carries memories for many of the regulars

When pubs close down, they can become spectres of the past, sitting there as an empty shell and leaving behind nothing but memories of better times and nothing to look forward to but a slow decay.

There are plenty of pubs which had a heyday full of flowing beer, bars and lounges echoing with chatter and laughter and a feeling of being at the heart of their communities, but fell on hard times and were forced to close down.

One pub which went through this process was the Fox & Goose in Penn in Wolverhampton, which had once been a popular pub, but closed in 2007 and despite gaining a new life as the Carriba, a Caribbean restaurant and cocktail lounge, it closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

That seemed to be it for the Fox & Goose, with more than 200 years of history, but only a future as a rotting shell, until locals Liz and Steve Evans took over the building in 2024 and worked to convert it into the modern day hybrid bar and cafe which, since opening at the start of August, has become a very popular place to drink.

Joe Keay is one of the co-owners, as well as landlord of the pub, and said that while he was too young to remember it as a pub, he'd been told a lot about its history within Wolverhampton.

He said: "I knew it as the Caribbean restaurant as I'm a bit too young to have been in the pub when it was that, but my parents and people I know who are older talk about it and have a lot of fond memories of it, saying that they met significant others here or came here all the time with their mates.

"It was Steve and Liz who came up with the idea of revitalising the pub and I'd worked with them for years at the Barley Mow when they ran it, so they offered me the chance to run the pub side, so that they could concentrate on the cafe side.

"The place when we first came in was very different, full of lime green and very dark and a lot of the windows had been boarded up, so we've worked to get the different features back in place and make it look a lot nicer."

The pub has been set up as a traditional pub, with a mixture of wooden and padded seating and the bar set up on the central area near the doors, while the cafe is a light and bright area which doubles up as the seating area during pub opening hours.

Since taking over, Steve and Liz Evans worked to completely rebuild the inside of the pub, creating two separate areas for the cafe, which runs from 9am to 3.30pm from Tuesday to Saturday and until 2pm on Sundays, and the pub, which opens from mid-afternoon until late Monday to Friday and through the afternoon and evening at weekends.

Mr Keay said the reaction from those coming in had been very positive, with a lot of people talking about how it used to look, but never dwelling on the past and, instead, enjoying the feeling of the new pub, as well as the drink selection, which he said was down to maintaining a good relationship with local breweries.

He said: "We try to get as much as possible from a lot of local breweries, with Wye Valley being one of the two permanent ones we have all the time, as well as Enville Brewery, and then we try to rotate the other beers around as much as we can.

"We also like to listen to people about what they want and take on a few requests, plus it's really nice to be able to try different things and see what people enjoy.

"We don't do hot food in the pub, but we've got a selection of cobs and the sausage rolls, both of which we get from Boxleys in Wombourne, so I hope that we offer everything for people to come, relax and have a nice pint."

Mr Keay said he had lived locally for years and while he and his partner had moved a bit further away, he still called Penn home and said that was what made the Fox & Goose special for him.

He said: "It's something I'm very proud of and I want people to be able to come and have a good time and enjoy themselves, so I like to see that we've created a place that people can come into and relax."