AGAWAM – A new restaurant in Agawam is focused not only on serving good food and drinks, but bringing people together.

Bob Manning, who owns Pour with Anneliese Townsend, told Reminder Publishing the pair loves creating spaces for people to enjoy within Agawam.

He said they started by opening the Agawam Axe House, which Manning described as “one more thing to put Agawam on the map.”

“When we look at Agawam, we do what we can to grow and develop the community,” he said. “When we opened the Agawam Axe House, we wanted to be the first axe house in New England.”

Manning said while their new bar, Pour, has a large TV, they also offer guests a variety of games to play during their visit such as shuffleboard, cornhole and giant Yahtzee.

He said while Pour focuses on food and good drinks, they also wanted to create an “interactive type bar” where “people can come and hang out.”

“Our niche is really around creating an enjoyable space for people, where people can hang out, relax and connect with one another,” he explained.

Manning noted that while they “respect all the business owners in town” and often frequent other establishments, they wanted Pour to offer something different to residents.

“We’re not trying to take business from other businesses, we’re just trying to do things a little different,” he explained.

In addition to “focusing on the social interaction and social engagement” Pour offers customers a variety of foods, craft cocktails and craft beer. Included in the bar’s food offerings are “various types of sliders” and “an Axe house burger,” Manning said.

“It’s really around listening to what people want, providing that on the menu and changing it up at a certain frequency,” he explained.

He said the staff member in charge of the beverage side of operations “comes up with really great, creative cocktails.”

 “She does her research around using different types of alcohol,” he noted. “She spent a lot of time creating a craft beer list, not only the draft side, but the cans.”

Manning noted that bartenders are also encouraged to come up with and explore ideas for new drinks.

The bar’s staff, he explained, was also a very important part of the space they’re creating.

“The thing that we also do is growing and developing our team, it’s really feedback and trying to get the team involved, our cooks our chefs as well as the bartenders,” he stated. “It’s really just a place to connect with our team, but our team to connect and engage with customers.”

Pour hosted their grand opening on Jan. 15, which Manning said had “a great turnout.”

“We had a lot of people that came in for the first night, the second night was even bigger,” he said. He explained that prior to opening a lot of people saw the sign go up and “as people realized we were open we got busier.”

He noted that they’d received a lot of support and positive feedback from those who’d come to the bar.

“We just got a lot of great comments, a lot of great support from the community,” he said.

Pour is located at 485 Springfield St. in Agawam and are open from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day of the week.