The Owners
Manchester Arms Pub is owned and operated by husband and wife team, Will and Kristi Warren Evans. The Evans re-opened the well-loved neighborhood pub in December 2020 after purchasing it in August 2020 and lovingly revitalizing the space. Kristi and Will have experienced an extremely warm reception from the local residents and are thrilled to be part of the College Park community. The Evans also operate The Warren City Club, a hip private club and event venue in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood. Kristi and Will met in 2004 at The Warren, which Kristi opened in 2003 with her family. The Evans also raise bees and chickens and lots of fur babies at their Morningside home.
History of The Pub
Thomas Swann, a retired Delta employee from Stockbridge GA, and Edward Worsley, originally from Woolley, England, opened the Manchester Arms Pub in 2005, with the generous and loving help of many friends and neighbors. The name “Manchester Arms” came from 2 places: 1) Manchester, one of England’s largest cities, is near Edward’s home, and is home to Manchester United, England’s most popular soccer team, and 2) College Park, GA was once named Manchester. [As a depot on the Atlanta & West Point lines, the city was originally called Atlantic City but was renamed Manchester in 1891. It was finally renamed College Park, as a nod to the two colleges located in the town, one of which is now Woodward Academy. Our logo pays homage to a stained-glass window of a favorite English parish church and includes the red rose, the emblem of the House of Lancaster. There were many repurposed items used in the careful renovation of the Pub. A 100+ year old British Naval Union Jack hangs in the dining room that flew for many years over the Salcombe town hall in Southern England. Leadlight windows above the bar were made in 1896 and first installed in a home in Atlanta’s West End. The front panels of the bar were taken from a pre-war home near Newnan GA. One of the loveliest features in the Pub is the bar top, made from reclaimed box car timbers from the Western & Atlantic railroad. The top is adorned with brass plaques honoring several beloved regulars: Dr. Karl Ullman, a Luftwaffe fighter pilot and Capt. B. Victor Hewes, a fighter pilot in the Royal Airforce, who fought on opposite sides in WW II, but met and became the best of friends at that corner of the bar. Dr. Selwyn Hartley, Director of Emergency Medicine at Clayton General (now Southern Regional) Hospital, was another revered comrade who spent many an evening at the corner of the bar with the pilots and his beloved wife Jacqueline. Selwyn & Jacquie’s devotion to each other restored many a customer’s faith in true love. The most recent plaque commemorates our dear friend Ed “Kirby,” a well-known College Park resident, respected member of the Delta Tech Ops Team, and friend to everyone who knew him.