A little bit of history...
The Green Man, Norton Disney, opened in its present form in 2009. A local family, sad to see the public house known as the St Vincent Arms boarded up and empty purchased it when Punch Taverns put it up for auction.
Giving themselves a three month turn around period they set about renovating the building. Horrors were found, changes hidden behind plasterwork were unearthed and the original building gave up its secrets.
It became apparent that the building had probably not always been a pub in its entirety and although it is impossible to prove it certainly appeared as though only the downstairs front room of the property had originally been used to sell local beers and some spirits.
The rest of the property had been a farm house.The age has never been determined, although there are some records indicating that as far back as the 17th Century it had been supplying alcohol to the locals. The following timeline is, however, available on any 'ancestry'site if you know where to look..
Disney and today...
In 1949, Walt Disney was looking up his family's Genealogy the hard way and had made the trip to Norton Disney to visit the area and look to see if he had any ancestors in the village graveyard.
It's not proven that he actually descended from the D'Isigny Norman nobleman who added their names to Norton after 1066 or that it was his ancestors who then emigrated to America but he did have a game of darts at the St Vincent Arms!. At some point in time the pub was purchased by Punch Taverns and was no longer a free house. During the late 1980's and into the 1990's it was a popular destination pub with a small restaurant area and a good sized garden which would be full of customers during the summer months.
When the drink driving laws came into force and it became more difficult to 'nip out for a pint' in the car it became a less popular pub and eventually the customer base declined and Punch put it up for auction..
It was agreed by the family that this would now be a free house and that investment would be made to make it a lovely place to visit. Customers needed to be attracted to both the 'pub' side and the restaurant and this could only be achieved by having good food available.
Looking back through the history and feeling that the pub needed a new identity it was agreed that the name would revert to The Green Man. Today the Green Man has a reputation for being welcoming, serving good food and having a variety of real ales available as well as quality wine and spirits.
Following the sudden decision by the long standing tenants to quit the business the family has now decided to run the Green Man themselves. Luckily, Victoria has a wealth of experience in running restaurants and has taken on a new staff team who will provide good food, good beer, spirits and wines and a welcoming atmosphere to all customers, new and old.