FRIENDLY faces spanning the full 30-year history of Borellis Wine Bar and Grill reunited last weekend to celebrate both the anniversary of one of Farnham’s longest-running independent establishments and the birth of owner David Quick’s son in June.

Despite torrential rain, customers both new and old turned out in large numbers on both Friday and Saturday to enjoy live music from local bands Brobed Stills and The Front Covers - who dedicated a cover of Bowie’s Starman to newborn Freddie Ziggy, named in honour of David’s beloved namesake - followed by a night of 1980s tunes and music videos.

“It was absolutely brilliant,” David, 57, told The Herald. “Friday night was a complete washout - torrential rain all night - but we still had a massive turnout. People just went out there and got soaked!

“It was a brilliant crowd both nights, and it was great to see some of the old faces, and many of them hadn’t seen each other for many years.

“We’ve got lots of customers who have been coming here for as many years as I’ve been running it and my first ever customer in May 1995, Noel Hogan, was sat in here on Saturday night with his brother from New Zealand who came over especially for the event.

“Another, Malcolm Sutcliffe, also flew over for the event from Houston, where he lives now, and Terry Lewis, who first opened Borellis in the late-1980s was also here.

“A big thank you to everyone who came in and supported us. It was great to see so many old faces and a big well done to the Borelli team who ran a brilliant show.”

Borellis wine bar opened after the redevelopment of Borellis Yard in 1987, and was run by owner Terry Lewis’s brother Gary for many years until David took the reigns in 1995, having grown tired of commuting into London to run a chain of shoe stores.

The bar quickly established itself on Farnham’s evening ‘circuit’ - its later closing time (midnight weekdays and 1am weekends) proving particularly popular with the late night crowd - and initially shared much of its clientele with Sevens wine bar, now Prezzo in The Borough.

David added: “As we’re right in the bullseye of the town we’ve always found that many people choose to end their nights here. We’re probably the only place in town where you can sit outside on a summer’s evening and enjoy a full night out.”

When David first took over Borellis in the mid-90s, Pizza Express was the only major chain restaurant in the town, and he quickly developed the food side of his business to add to the town’s gastronomic offering, ensuring the bar now remains busy throughout the day.

Much has changed over the proceeding decades, with the arrival of many more chains in the town - not to mention two major refits at Borellis in 2002 and 2008. But although competition is now fierce, David says the result is that a lot more people now come into Farnham to eat instead of Guildford - helping the independent operators too.

It is for this reason that David is a strong advocate of the Brightwells regeneration scheme, which he believes will breathe fresh life into the town, should it finally get off the ground this summer as promised by Waverley Borough Council.

As chairman of the Farnham Pubwatch scheme for some 14 years up to 2011, David has also done his bit to keep problem customers out of the town’s drinking holes.

“Before Pubwatch was launched, there was quite a lot of trouble-makers in the town, it was like the Wild West! But with the help of the police we put the scheme together and worked with fellow publicans to jointly deal with our problems,” he said.

“It’s been good for the town and there’s minimum trouble now.”

Another indicator of the strength of David’s business is Borellis’ remarkably low staff turnover, with many of his employees having worked for the business for five - or in some cases 10-plus - years. It comes as no surprise therefore that David’s big secret to Borellis’ longevity is “having a really good team”.