Brandon’s ‘Fox and Hounds’ Goes ‘British’ Under New Pub Management

Out with the “Irish” and in with the “British” marks the new lease on life for Fox and Hounds on Brandon Boulevard, where Tracey Adelhouser is one step closer to her dream of owning a pub.

For now, Tracey Adelhouser is content with leasing the building that stands as a landmark of sorts on Brandon Boulevard, where the Fox and Hounds Irish Pub had previously been in operation under five owners.

Adelhouser this month, in time for St. Patrick’s Day, took over Whitey’s Fox and Hounds Irish Pub, which she has renamed the Fox and Hounds British Pub, in keeping with her own roots and with what she said is a more fitting tribute to the “fox and hounds” moniker.

“This is an icon in Brandon, one of the older buildings,” she said. “I lived here for 16 years and I’ve worked at Raccoons [in Valrico, at 3240 Lithia Pinecrest Road] for 16 years and I always wanted to own my own pub.”

“Love” is a word she uses frequently in discussing her new business venture, which harks to the roots of Fox and Hounds as a bar restaurant that focuses more on the “bar” and much less on the “restaurant.”

Indeed, the pub offers 10 percent food and 90 percent drink, which allows for smoking inside. Opting for a full-pub license was a no-brainer for Adelhouser, herself a non-smoker. As she put it: “You have to have smoking with a pub.”

“It’s a pub atmosphere,” she added. “Most people come in and have a beer and smoke because they can’t in other places.”

When food is served, it includes the following selections: fish ’n’ chips, sausage 'n’ chips, shepherd’s pie and the Scotch egg, which, Adelhouser said, “is poached with sausage meat and really good with pickles.”

Pam Gerhard is a former Fox and Hounds owner, having run the business from 1998 to 2006.

“The people here get along so well, they’ll do anything to help a person out,” said Gerhard, who added that she is helping out Adelhouser “because everybody in Brandon needs a Fox and Hounds in their life.”

As Gerhard put it: “It’s a safe place to come to and have good times and good friends.”

Running a pub is Adelhouser’s passion; leasing, and eventually owning, Fox and Hounds, a dream come true.

“I love people and I love serving people and this is pretty much doing what I did when I was a single parent, it’s how I paid my bills,” said Adelhouser, who has since remarried. “I’m ready to run my own bar, my own pub, to put my own touch on something. I wanted more of a little place. I wanted Irish music and the sing-along.”

Fox and Hounds British Pub, 229 East Brandon Blvd., is open 11 a.m-3 a.m. seven days a week. Live entertainment is scheduled 8 p.m.-midnight Fridays and Saturdays and 2-6 p.m. Sundays.