One of the island’s landmark pubs is set to enter a new era.

The Bay Hotel on Shore Road, Port Erin, is to have new tenants.

It will be run by Phil Taylor and his father Nigel, directors of Rock Food Concepts Ltd.

They already own 14 North, The Bath and Bottle and the Little Fish Cafe in Douglas.

Rock Food Concepts won the Company of the Year title at the last Isle of Man Newspapers Awards for Excellence.

In an exclusive interview Phil, 35, told Business News: ‘This seemed like the right opportunity for us to make our first foray outside of the Big Smoke.’

The company will be making a ‘significant’ investment of thousands of pounds in re-branding the restaurant side of the business and fitting out a new kitchen.

But Phil vowed the traditional pub and the Bushy’s beers will remain.

Bay Hotel owner Martin Brunnschweiler told Business News he was excited and pleased with the venture.

He said it has come about after the current tenant Marcel Drozdik who has been at the helm for five years, announced he had decided to leave to pursue other interests.

Phil Taylor visited the Bay on Sunday night to meet staff and said he is looking forward to taking over from Monday, June 25.

Phil Taylor said:‘Over the years we have been approached by various landlords and different opportuities have arisen and we always go and have a look. And nothing has felt quite right up until this point.

‘I’ve spent quite a lot of time down south and my parents live in Port Erin.

‘I’ve always admired the Bay as a pub.

‘It’s in a beautiful location, it has some stunning original features and there’s just this lovely feel in the pub.

‘I’ve been in the pub on Christmas Eve and been for dinner in the restaurant, so I’ve always admired it.

‘There’s also the popularity of Bushy’s and Martin himself.

‘The plan is to put a Little Fish Cafe in the restaurant part of the pub.

‘The place will still keep the name the Bay Hotel, but when you go in you will be able to go to a Little Fish at the Bay or just go into the pub as it always has been.

‘So for us I guess it is taking two popular brands, Little Fish Cafe and the Bushy’s brand, and melding them together.

‘We look forward to working closely with Bushy’s and Martin to make that work for the benefit of everyone.

‘The location certainly suits the Little Fish style operation although it will be a different offering to what we have in the Douglas Little Fish. It won’t be as sea food based so there will be more meat and vegetarian options.

‘It will be like a Little Fish hub in a way whereas the cafe [in Douglas] takes its inspiration from a traditional fish and chip shop.

‘This [Port Erin] will take more of its inspiration from traditional pubs, but with that Little Fish twist to it.

‘We will probably be offering brunch as well as Sunday lunch and there will be a smaller food menu in the pub side of the Bay.’

Phil admitted that the company had the ‘least experience’ on the pub side butstressed: ‘We don’t really want to change anything in the pub too much.

‘Physically it will remain the same.

‘The offering will remain the same. It will remain a traditional pub.

‘Bushy’s ales will remain centre stage and that will be supported by the Norseman, the craft lager that Martin makes. It will be supported by a number of other local beverage offerings.

‘There will be the roaring fires in the winter and dogs will continue to be welcome.

‘We are going to rip out the kitchen and put quite an expensive fit-out in there and hopefully create a restaurant that will not only be good for the south of the island but actually has the potential to be a destination for people living outside of Port Erin.

‘We want people to travel from Douglas to go for dinner in Port Erin.’

Phil said that on the pub side there would be ‘slight tweaks’ but ‘the essence of the pub will remain.’

Phil said that there would be a mix of old and new furniture in the restaurant.

And there would be new decor on the walls.

And a paint job was expected both inside and outside the Bay Hotel.

The restaurant part will be closed for ‘maybe three weeks’ while the internal work is carried out of fitting the new kitchen.

It is hoped they will not have to close the pub side , but if it did have to close it would be only for about a day for a little bit of paint ‘touch ups.’

Phil said: ‘The idea is to have as continuous a trade as possible.’

General manager will be Dominic Welsh, who has played a key role in the other three outlets run by Rock Food Concepts in Douglas.

And head chef is set to be a local man from the Port Erin area. His name has yet to be officially announced.

Meanwhile Martin said he would be giving his full blessing to the venture. He lives upstairs at the Bay and said he and his wife Debbie were looking forward to sampling the food in the new restaurant.