A neighborhood pub updates its look, but keeps the vibe.

Karen Blackwell-Harrison spent 10 weeks renovating English Ales Brewery in Marina with the help of her husband, Harry Harrison, and her father, the owner of the pub, Peter Blackwell. They pulled carpet, re-paneled walls, installed new cupboards, painted here and there and polished brass decorations. But when it came to the red and green sparkling garland hanging on a chandelier, she couldn’t take it down.

“We refuse to take those Christmas decorations down around the chandelier that took us literally hours to do. So they’re just never coming down,” Blackwell-Harrison says in a Facebook video showing off the newly renovated bar.

Like the plethora of decorations and knickknacks in the pub, the unseasonal Christmas decorations add character (plus they match the bright red walls and fresh green paint throughout).

Blackwell-Harrison’s push to renovate and deep clean was fueled partly with what she calls “bar envy” after visiting English Ales’ new location, which opened in Capitola on Feb. 29.

“Karen saw that new business, and she may have a jealous streak and wanted to give the old pub a facelift,” her father says.

Two-and-a-half weeks later, both locations closed due to Covid-19 and shelter-in-place orders. The family used the down time to renovate.

Now, there’s freshly polished brass and bouquets of red, white and blue flowers accentuating five paintings of Supermarine Spitfires – a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force during World War II – surrounding a flight certificate from 2017 with Blackwell’s name on it from when his family gifted him a flight in one of the historic airplanes for his 75th birthday. A model airplane and a framed photograph of a Spitfire pilot all make the Spitfire Room live up to its name.

Barstools and chairs with cracking leather have been reupholstered. Carpet has been replaced and concrete floors painted tan, brightening the room. A once dull and worn bartop is now shiny and slick, perfect for sliding a pint. Everything, from the beer lines to the plungers has been cleaned.

Jane Jones is a regular – or as the English Ales team refer to customers, a member of the “pub family” – who was excited to get back to the pub once shelter-in-place restrictions started lifting. She’d been watching the renovation via Facebook and wanted to see the finished product in person.

From her first visit to the pub in 2008, Jones says she knew this would be her neighborhood go-to place. “It was all warm and friendly. Everybody knew each other, but it wasn’t like a clique where new people felt out of place,” she recalls.

It’s that spirit that seems to draw people in. The Blackwells moved to the U.S. from England in 1967. Since then, they have owned pubs in San Luis Obispo, Salinas and Monterey.

What they ended up with was their own brewery with 12 beers and two locations. It’s not just the beer that upholds English traditions though. It’s the whole atmosphere, and a classic English tradition. “In England it’s common for people to have mugs,” Blackwell says. “You’d walk in and your mug would be at the bar and full of beer before you even sat down.”

In 2002, they ordered roughly 50 mugs. Today, many of their 1,500-plus mugs adorn the bar and the ceiling. Some are owned by regulars, some by visitors who come just once or twice a year, others by students or active military members that take their mugs with them when they move. On the wall, mugs of those that have died are above a sign that reads, “To absent friends.”

The pub family is made up of people of all walks of life, and it doesn’t just include the long-timers, it includes anyone who walks in. Blackwell-Harrison says it’s about how you’re treated when you walk through the door. “If it’s your first time, we like to try to introduce you to regulars,” she says.

She recalls a specific time when a couple on their honeymoon stopped in and the people in the pub bought them drinks and celebrated with them. When the newlyweds left, the whole bar clapped.

The interior may have a “new pub” feel, but when it comes down to it, the soul of English Ales is the people – and that hasn’t changed.

ENGLISH ALES BREWERY 223 Reindollar Ave., Marina. 883-3000, englishalesbrewery.com