Christmas Movies & Events Under the Stars
- Harry Fletcher
- Jun 8
- 4 min read
It’s no secret, that Pubs and the hospitality sector is struggling, gone of the days where pubs could survive on normal custom alone. So, we had to think of something, something big, something pubs do not normally do. It’s hard to think of what to do with limited funding and resources at our disposal. Margins are tight, and any profit made must go back into the pub to fix problems that arise throughout the year.
We then noticed a new gentleman named "Kevin Fishlock" had been frequenting our pub, a new local, lovely chap with some big ideas. Kevin or "Kev" came to us with an idea. Our garden is very big, and during the winter months, this space is not utilised, its wet, windy and just horrible outside in England, so for years, we didn’t use to for anything.
Kev approached us with an idea, that we could use the space, and put up a marquee in the garden to use for events throughout the winter. Our problem was, we didn’t have a marquee! Luckily Kev happened to be the manager of a reputable marquee rental business on the isle of wight named "Coast & country Marquees", During the winter, most of their marquees just stay in storage and do not get used.
We sat down together and came up with a plan to erect a 24 meter by 9-meter marquee, and in this marquee, show Halloween and Christmas movies. As this was something we have never dipped our toe in to, it was quite scary at first thinking about how our little pub could pull this off. Alas, we thought we would give it a try! What was the worst that could happen? We didn’t use the garden for anything else, the only problem we could see was because it was late in the year, was drumming up interest and getting the word out there that we were holding these events with little or no funds for marketing or promotion. As we are on the isle of wight, we had to rely on word of mouth, Facebook and luckily the county press helped us out with a small article about it free of charge.
I then began on the promotional posters, put together a plan, and looked at if we were going to do this, we had to do it right... no half cooked decorations, no half cooked logistics, this has to be thought out, with this in the back of our minds, it was still a trial year, and if successful, maybe it was something we could also do for 2026, learning from any problems that arisen from our first attempt!
There were a few problems that we came across but I won’t bore you with them now, however these problems will be addressed if we held the events in 2026.
We were all sceptical at first if this would be a success, but we feel it was, the look on the customers faces when they first walked into the marquee was vindication that what we were doing here was worth it.
The Team:
Harry Fletcher - Director of operations/ Cohost of events / Chef
Wendy Coy (pub mum) - Director of decorations / Event supervisor
Emma Vale (pub cousin) - Decorations
Kevin Fishlock - Jack of all trades helping with everything he could / Event supervisor
Rob Light (The Pubs sunshine boy) - Cohost of the events / Chef
The Team working out how thing things were going to be for the front of the stage.
We put the post out, "Christmas movies under the stars at the Woodmans" - and luckily, the Facebook algorithm picked it up and it was liked, commented on and shared throughout Facebook receiving good feedback. Then because of its success, as an afterthought, we thought we would do a Halloween movie night! So, we went ahead, made the poster, and shared it again on Facebook.
Too late to go back now!
We had to investigate the decorations - in steps Wendy and Emma, who luckily, love decorating! We sat down and concocted a plan for the decorations normally, headed by Wendy, we set a budget and start shopping for what we needed.
Kev also had a slay! so we thought we would stick that in there, decorate it, and use it for families to take pictures in it if they wanted to have a memento of the night - with handmade
reindeer which could also be sat on for pictures.
We also held crafting events, which we are looking into next year, for holding more, doing different types of Christmas style crafting, so watch this space!
We think, for our first attempt, it went down well! and are already in talks of what we can do this year (2026) and what movies we could show, what events could be put on and what crafting events we could also hold.
We would like to thank...
Kevin Fishlock & his staff at Coast & Country
Classic isle - for the use of the furniture & pillows
Wendy Coy & Emma Vale for their brilliance with the decorating
Marilyn for holding the wreath making sessions and "gift to nature" for supplying the stuff to do it!
Rob light - our sunshine kid, who covered Harry co-hosting the events while he was driving to Poland.
Everyone that came and supported the events, without you, it would have been a waste of time - we hope you all enjoyed yourselves!
