The remodeled bar.

TIFTON — After being closed for almost a year, a local institution has finally reopened under new ownership.

Paul Wright, owner, and Eddie Hoover, manager, were very excited about The Pub being open.

Tuesday was the first official day they were open for business.

The Pub will be open Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. “until” said Hoover.

He said some nights they’ll be open until 2 a.m., sometimes they’ll close earlier or later.

They said that they are going to be doing dine-in only for the first couple of weeks “until we can get our legs under us,” said Hoover. After that they will begin utilizing the drive through window

The menu has appetizers, pizzas, soups, salads and sandwiches, but they are planning on adding more offerings in the future.

They kept some traditional offerings, such as the local favorite Lamplighter Stallion pizza (which still has the same thick-sliced pepperoni), but are also adding new items, like their new chargrilled burger, chicken sandwich — which can be either grilled or fried chicken — a blackened shrimp salad and new pizzas, like spicy Polynesian and chicken pesto.

The Pub also now features a full bar that offers cocktails, wine and approximately 30 craft beers, including three craft beers on tap.

“We are offering the largest craft beer selection in town,” Hoover said.

Wright is a big fan of craft beer and decided to add that to the regular beer offerings.

Wright wants The Pub to be “a place to get some really cool food.

“I want to incorporate some great entrees and some great desserts. I want to do fun theme nights, maybe some family style meals. I also want to bring back oyster night.”

Hoover said that Wright has a lot of good, progressive ideas for entrees and other food items.

Wright has over 18 years of experience in the restaurant and hospitality industry.

He went to school at Johnson and Wales University, which is well known for their culinary arts program, and has traveled and worked all over the country as well as in the Caribbean, with various Hyatt resorts.

“I’ve always called Tifton home,” he said, since his entire family lives in the area. Wright had been looking for the opportunity to come back to be near family.

He said that he looked at buying several other locations, but that none of them felt like the right fit. Then in July of 2016, he was told that The Pub was up for sale.

“It’s my kind of a place,” said Wright. “It’s a place that you want to spend all day in, the kind of place where everyone knows your name, where you’re amongst good people, good music and good food.”

Wright remembers going to The Pub with his family during visits and holidays, and said that his sister met her husband there as well.

Hoover moved to Tifton when he was 10 and recalls having his first Pub pizza around that time. He entered the restaurant business as well, and when the opportunity came up to work with Wright, who he had met years earlier, he jumped at the chance.

The building has been cleaned up, renovated and rearranged while keeping the original footprint and feel of the place.

“We wanted to stay true to the tradition that the previous owners had, cause in our business, four years of being in business is great. Forty years is unbelievable,” said Hoover.

Hoover said that they wanted to honor the tradition of the previous owners. “What a tribute to them,” he said.

“They’re the ones who did it, we just brightened it up,” Hoover said.

“I want it to be what it always has been, but with one or two added experiences,” Wright said.

He wants The Pub to be a place where “when you go there you know you’re going to have a good time.”

Hoover talked about how there were multiple generations of people who had been coming to The Pub, which they wanted to continue, but they also wanted to appeal to a wider audience of families.

“We wanted people to feel welcome to bring their kids in. We’re going to have a full kids menu. We even have high chairs,” Hoover said.

They switched the main dining area to the front room of the building and moved the pool and foosball tables to the back near the courtyard, where they installed dart boards.

The bar area was built out to give more room in the kitchen and was paneled with wood that came from a house on Wright’s family farm.

The kept the original wood paneling on the wall near the main entrance and refinished the concrete floors so they are clean and shiny.

Wright and Hoover are also planning on having live music on the weekends.

Wright said that they are going to be focusing on rock, country and “a lot of mix in between.”

“We’re going to bring in the old outlaw country bands, we’ll bring in some bluegrass,” Wright said.

He also said they wanted to bring in bands that play classic rock and southern rock.