The Pheasant Carvery Chippenham celebrates successful year

The Pheasant Carvery, a prominent Wadworth-owned venue on the A4 Bath Road in Chippenham, benefitted from a renovation of its bar area in October.

Since then, the pub has gone from strength to strength and put together a record-breaking December in terms of sales, which saw the team record their best week since becoming a carvery.

General manager Amanda Baker, who has worked at The Pheasant for over nine years, said: “We had a record-breaking week in mid-December, we broke any record pre-Covid or post-Covid which is amazing.

“It’s incredibly rewarding, and the team was buzzing on the Saturday night when we smashed the record… I’m over the moon and incredibly proud of the team.

“Christmas is an incredibly intense time of year, but it just makes all the difference when you’re running a business that is successful, the support from our customers has been amazing.”

The Pheasant's interactive darts board (Image: Amanda Baker)

The bar refurbishment took two weeks and saw the area completely redecorated, while new furniture, large screen TVs, and a projector were also fitted.

These screens show a huge range of sports fixtures while there is also a popular interactive darts board.

While the revamp has proved popular with customers, and drawn in a “younger” crowd, Mrs Baker says the pub’s success is not just down to these improvements.

The 46-year-old added: “The refurbishment has massively improved trade, it’s beautiful and a really lovely space, like a proper sports bar.

“It took us a little while to get back on our feet after Covid, but this year things have really turned around.

“It’s not just the refurbishment, we’ve done a lot of work on our food offering, and our carvery is outstanding and totally fresh.

“I run an incredibly close-knit team, I’ve got a team of about 30 that work here and we’re like one big family… if the team are smiling the customers are smiling.”

Amanda Baker (Image: Amanda Baker)

When Mrs Baker began running the pub four years ago, she set out to give the venue a “community” feel and create a safe space for locals to spend their time, something she believes she has achieved.

“I’ve got customers who come in on a daily basis and we might be the only people they see”, she said.

“I wanted to create a proper community pub and I think we’ve really achieved that.

“We’re so much more than a carvery and I think anybody can feel safe, comfortable and important here.”