The Royal

22/10/2026

🎃 THE ROYAL’S PUMPKIN CARVING COMPETITION IS BACK! 🎃

We’ve got 50 FREE pumpkins arriving tomorrow morning, ready for you lovely lot to take home and work your magic on!

Same drill as last year:

🎃 Collect your free pumpkin from The Royal from Friday morning 23rd (once they’ve arrived!).

🎃 Carve your masterpiece at home and return it by Thursday 29th October, ready for our Halloween weekend display.

🎃 We’ll photograph each entry as it comes back, while it’s looking its best, and let our Facebook followers vote for the winners!

PRIZES 🏆

Adults: £100 first prize / £50 second prize

Children (11 & under): £50 first prize / £25 second prize

Everyone who returns a carved pumpkin also gets a 25% off food voucher as a thank-you! Valid Monday–Thursday, excluding other promotions.

As always, creativity is encouraged. Adults, feel free to exercise your questionable sense of humour — just remember these will be displayed in a family pub, so try not to get us arrested. 😂

50 pumpkins. First come, first served. Let’s see what you’ve got! 🎃

22/10/2026

If you’ve ever found yourself setting the village to rights over a pint, this might be your chance to actually do something about it… 😬

And on the plus side, you’ll also get plenty of opportunities to tell the boss where he’s going wrong — apparently he doesn’t just get that at the pub 🤷‍♂️😆🤫

Parish Councillor vacancy — details below.

Fancy getting more involved in what happens in Bolton-le-Sands?

We currently have a vacancy for a Parish Councillor and would be keen to hear from residents who might be interested in joining us.

This is a voluntary role and a genuine opportunity to get involved in local issues, contribute ideas and help shape decisions affecting the village.

If you’re interested, please email our Clerk at:

[email protected]

There’s no need to send a CV or write an essay. Just give us a brief introduction to yourself, a little about your background, and what you feel you could bring to the Council.

If you’d simply like to know more about the role before deciding whether to put yourself forward, feel free to get in touch with any questions.

21/10/2026

Anyone up for another pumpkin carving competition this Halloween? 🎃

Let’s hope so. I’ve got 50 pumpkins arriving on Friday.

Otherwise, expect a LOT of pumpkin soup on the menu over the next couple of weeks. 😂

Details tomorrow! 👀

21/10/2026

Another early morning, gruelling supplier meeting at Lovingly Artisan near Kendal. Just as well I skipped breakfast… 😔😂

Came away with bags of bread samples to try, although I may have accidentally slipped in a few artisan pastries for the guys too 🤷‍♂️

It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.

Anyway, back to The Royal for Northern Tapas Wednesday — all 12 tapas dishes just £6 each, all day and evening, with selected bottles of w**e for £18.

A few little plates, a bottle of w**e and Wednesday evening sorted. 🍷

20/10/2026

At Punch, we're proud to see young talent thrive across our pubs and support teams. From first jobs to leadership roles, remains one of the UK's greatest industries for developing skills, building confidence and creating rewarding careers.

That's why we're backing a hospitality-wide call to Government ahead of the Budget, championing the sector's ability to create jobs and opportunities for young people.

Hear Harry Bourne's story and why he's proud to support this message.

18/10/2026

🍞 We knead your opinions! 😬

I’m just finishing off November’s menu and, being nothing if not indecisive, I’ve found myself having a bit of a bread-related dilemma.

We currently use sourdough for our lunchtime sandwiches, but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I’m toying with going back to ciabatta, or perhaps trying something completely different.

A nice malted granary? Seeded bloomer? Something else entirely?

The only thing we’re ruling out is cheap white sliced bread. It has its place in life, but call us pretentious, it’s not going anywhere near our sandwich menu. 😂

So, rather than deciding what we think you should like, we thought we’d ask what you actually like.

What’s your favourite bread for a proper lunchtime sandwich? Sourdough, ciabatta, granary, or something we’ve not thought of?

Tell us in the comments. We can’t promise to please everyone, but we do genuinely read your feedback, and sometimes you lot have better ideas than we do!

18/10/2026

After several months of pretending it’s still summer, we’ve finally admitted defeat and lit the first fire of the season. 🔥

It was bloody chilly out with the dogs this morning!

Sunday roasts, proper hearty food and a roaring fire. Autumn at The Royal is officially underway. 🍂

17/10/2026

A truly miserable Saturday for some of the lads at The Royal… 😂

Turned up for a shift at the pub, only to find themselves roped into helping me clear an overgrown alleyway near the pub that’s been irritating me for months on my daily dog walks.

A quieter afternoon, a pile of gardening kit and three blokes with questionable gardening expertise later, we’re making progress.

Sorry, lads. But as they say in hospitality…

If you’ve got time to lean, you’ve got time to clean. Maybe next time just call in sick…😉

07/10/2026

I’ve been dying to share one of our recent side projects with someone, so now we’ve got the green light, I thought who better than our 10,000-strong loyal follower base to quietly confide in. Strictly between you and me, you understand… 🤫😉

As some of you may know, I’m heavily involved with the village Parish Council and, as anyone who’s paid even half an ounce of attention to The Royal over the last decade can testify, I LOVE a project. The more ambitious, the better!

I signed up to make a positive contribution to the village and offer some of my commercial skill sets for ‘the greater good’ (for the Hot Fuzz fans amongst you 😆).

Anyway, for the past couple of months we’ve been working our socks off with the Thwaite Brow Woods Conservation Group to put together plans to give one of our favourite spots in the village a serious bit of love. The Conservation Project is a group of volunteers who have worked tirelessly for decades to maintain the woods. It’s a real labour of love, and they’re always looking for new volunteers (hint hint 😉).

For those who don’t know, Thwaite Brow is the big woods on the hill a little behind-ish The Royal. We’ve always loved spending time up there walking the dogs, so although I’m not originally from the village, I’ve always had a soft spot for it 😬

I can’t tell you everything just yet, but we’ve now secured funding to start making a BIG difference to the woods. It’s packed full of history, stories and wildlife, and our new interpretation scheme aims to make much more of that — turning the woods into something of an outdoor classroom for nature lovers, families and local schools.

What started as a couple of low-key information boards has, predictably, snowballed rather quickly… I have a habit of doing that, soz 😆🤷‍♂️

Anyway, watch this space 😀

07/10/2026

Britain’s pubs are worth up to £30 billion in wellbeing value to communities across the UK. But rising costs and high taxes are putting pressure on pubs that bring people together.

This Week of Action, join the campaign today and tell your MP to keep pubs open and pints affordable.

https://www.longlivethelocal.pub/letter 🍍

04/10/2026

We’re giving Wednesdays a bit of a shake-up…

From this week, every Wednesday is Northern Tapas Wednesday — all 12 dishes just £6 each, all day and evening.

Order a couple, order six, share them nicely or guard your black pudding bonbons with your life. Entirely up to you. 😂

And because a table full of little plates deserves a bottle of w**e alongside it, we’ve got selected red, white & rosé at £18 a bottle too. 🍷

Available alongside the full main menu, every Wednesday from this week.

£6 tapas. £18 w**e. Wednesdays sorted. 👌

03/10/2026

It’s Saturday, the sun’s shining, fresh bread is arriving from Lovingly Artisan and our brand new October menu is officially up and running. ☀️🍂

Plenty of proper autumn flavours and some cracking new dishes to get stuck into.

Seems as good an excuse as any to sack off whatever you were supposed to be doing today and come to the pub. 🤷‍♂️

25/09/2026

Actress Daisy Edgar-Jones filmed 🎥 a promo for her new film, Sense and Sensibility in our Canonbury pub, The Marquess Tavern for Vogue 🥰

The team at Vogue were searching for a shooting location that oozes class, was timeless and in-keeping with the theme of the movie... so where else were they going to film?! 😏

Take a look at the promo - Daisy is in character as Elinor Dashwood throughout!

Sense and Sensibility hits cinemas TODAY! 🎬Why not pop into The Marquess Tavern to wash down your popcorn! 🍿🍷

!

22/09/2026

We're on board, are you?

Join thousands backing Britain's pubs and breweries.

www.longlivethelocal.pub ❤️🍺

21/09/2026

This pub is a gem! 💎

The Wig & Mitre in Lincoln's Cathedral Quarter has reopened following a £100k investment. ⛪

Anne-Marie and Paul Balcomb have taken on the 14th century pub... "We’re thrilled to take control of such an iconic pub and can’t wait to meet all of our wonderful guests" ❤️

📷 Courtesy of Tory McTernan

17/09/2026

Welcome to The Buck Inn 🦌

New Management Partner Adrian McShane-Chapman has taken over the Thornton-le-Dale pub following a whopping £490k investment 🤑

🗨️ “I arrived in the UK 22 years ago from Australia, armed with just a backpack and no real plan... I’ve dipped in and out of hospitality over that time but the fire inside me to run my own pub burned bright.” - Adrian

If you're in Yorkshire, pay Adrian and his team a visit and check out this stunning pub for yourselves. 🤩

15/09/2026

Rory takes the keys to the refurbished Cross Keys pub in Nottingham! 🗝️

Our new Management Partner Rory Calladine has taken the reins at the popular city centre pub following a £100,000 investment.

🗨️"I was instantly drawn to the pub and as soon I discovered it was available in a partnership with Punch, I jumped at the chance." 🍍

Regular guests at The Cross Keys will instantly notice the pub’s traditional feel and special characteristics have been retained throughout but that a complete refresh has taken place. 💫

11/09/2026

We have reopened the Keyworth Tavern following a quarter-of-a-million refurbishment 🔥

The Keyworth pub in Nottingham, run by our Management Partner John Francis, had been closed for 5 weeks while we tore out the bar, stripped the pub back and replaced everything with new, modern furnishings. 🤩

Great work by everyone involved in the transformation 🥂

03/09/2026

We're quite fond of it too, Prime Minister! The Dog House

28/08/2026

Our Publican Beth at The Beeswing Inn 2013 has raised circa £250K for charity 😍 so if you're in the area this weekend, pop in and enjoy the music, food and drink!

Well done Beth!! 🥳

The Beeswing in East Cowton is hosting its 13th ‘Glastonbury’ festival to raise money for end of life care at a nearby hospital.

27/08/2026

Newly married couple Gareth and Jamie Furness have take the over The Bay Horse Inn in Pickering. 🔔

The pub has received a £400,000 investment and Gareth says it has been very well received by locals. 😃

“We are seeing more locals returning to the pub, faces that haven't been seen here for many years and we are seeing them on a regular basis... The refurb has really put The Bay Horse Inn back on the map and firmly at the heart of the Pickering community.” ❤️

Well done to everyone involved in this brilliant transformation 👏