Last updated 19:49, Thursday, 07 August 2008

IT’S been all hands on deck and full sail since The Bounty pub opened in Workington last week.

Manager John Reid has had to take on two extra staff to make sure that service is quicker, because the Finkle Street pub was forced to stop serving food twice since it opened.

Mr Reid said: “Business has exceeded expectations which is great news.

“We have taken more money on food than we have on liquor which is absolutely unbelievable.”

The Barracuda pub group took over the former Lister’s Carpets building and said it invested £800,000 in it.

The Bounty now employs 40 staff, and Mr Reid plans to take on more staff in the future.

Big mirrors and old photographs of Workington and Cockermouth line the walls, and there are large-screen TVs.

The pub was originally earmarked to open as a Barracuda Bar, with a South African theme, but company bosses looked at the town and decided that a traditional theme was more suitable.

It opened with a VIP night, during which local businesspeople and townsfolk were invited to the pub.

The pub has been named The Bounty after the ship on which Cockermouth-born Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against Captain William Bligh during a voyage to Tahiti.