The Brewhouse & Kitchen in Bournemouth which welcomed a new manager last month is our pub of the week.

Jonathan Masterson took charge of the pub on Poole Hill in early December having worked at two other town venues - Walkabout and Felson's.

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Jonathan came to England travelling as a “young 20-year-old, got into the industry here, met English wife Rebecca - and the rest is history!”

Having turned 40 during the lockdown he is excited about the future and says “life really does begin at 40!

"It’s a fantastic business - great in terms of what we do here and all the bars in the group. It’s challenging working round Covid and we are doing it the best we can.

"We trade all through the week. Most people understand about all the Covid rules; it’s part of our customer journey. People are seated at a table. We have a coded system and they order food and drink on their mobile phone.”

The Brewhouse is a real pub, with no Sky Sports and no fruit machines, where you can see the beer being brewed on the premises. It serves over 70 craft beers and ciders and it boasts an award winning beer garden, with fire pits, open all year. It's the opposite of everything the industry was doing a few years ago, but today the Brewhouse & Kitchen group is the UK's largest brewpub group with 19 pubs

“I’m probably a bit of a moralist in terms of pubs,” says Kris Gumbrell, Bournemouth-based executive chairman of the business.

He’s against gambling in pubs and, although he loves sport, he doesn’t care to have it televised in his premises.

“I’m not prepared to fill my pub by paying over the odds to show football and then destroy the atmosphere in the pub for other people who are not interested in football,” he said.

Kris spent 20 years working for three big players in the pub scene. He left to co-found Brewhouse & Kitchen as a “disruptive” force in the industry.

“I kind of came across brew pubs. I thought, this is an interesting idea,” he said.

The first pub was in Portsmouth but Kris was keen to open in Bournemouth and snapped up the derelict Malt & Hops in his own area, Southbourne. Some were sceptical about reviving it as a pub, but it has been one of the company’s biggest successes.

After that the company bought the former Rising Sun in Poole and opened in the former Branksome Arms at the Triangle, where Jonathan is based.

As well as beers created on the premises, the pubs emphasise family dining with menu options throughout the day and evening. Beer Can Chicken typically uses the venue's beer in the recipe and there are roasts on Sundays.

Jonathan is excited about 2021:“We will be connecting with the community a lot more, doing a lot more local charity and driving the business at our external beer garden with more marketing and advertising."