May has been busy for Pomus in Margate. The business, owned by Ryan Jarovides, has celebrated its first birthday, and created a cult-like following with customers and staff tattooing themselves with the logo (see page 28 of the June edition of The Wine Merchant). 

In addition, May also happened to be the month that Jarovides collected the keys for his new venture in Folkestone.

Pomus Folkestone will have the same offer as the original Margate business, which is a wine bar, restaurant and bottle shop, but “there will be a lot of local nuances”, says Jarovides. 

“There’ll be different local beers and products. The menu will be a collaboration from the chef that we’ve taken on locally here and our chef back in Margate, plus we’re going to have a bit more of a lunch offer here as well as a lot of other events out on the terrace, where we can do some big barbecues.”

The building has the best of both worlds with the original iconic Victorian tiles on the exterior giving away its original incarnation as a pub, but it’s already been modernised inside.

“It was the Brewery Tap until the late 90s and for the last 20 years it’s been an art gallery and creative pop-up space,” he says. 

“There’s this listed fascia, which has been the same since 1890. It’s as close to having my own pub as possible! There’s still the original pub floor inside, but we’ve got big sliding doors out to a courtyard and a really nice blank canvas.

“We’ll maintain the integrity of the building by hosting art trails out in the garden and continue to do some of the things that the building has been doing for the last two decades.”

There is capacity for 60 covers, almost twice the amount of space at Margate, and Jarovides expects he’ll be splitting his time equally across both sites. 

“I’ve got a really good support team. From a chef perspective, we’ve got a great team so maintaining food quality is the least of my worries,” he says. 

“I’m going to be dedicating a lot of time to getting this bedded in, but I’ve taken on a new general manager in Margate who has been on the Margate food scene for years and is very well known.”