You won’t find it in any of the ‘best pub’ guides that seem to appear every other week, but our local is the best pub simply because it’s, well, our local. And that is why our village has come together to save it from permanent closure.
The White Horse Inn in Westleton – one of around a dozen pubs in Suffolk with that name – was put up for sale last year by the county’s foremost brewery, Adnams, as they looked to slim down their estate. It was hoped that, as with other pubs in the area, some enterprising new owners would come and take it over, tart it up and give it a new lease of life. But the longer it failed to sell, the more it seemed that it would end up, like so many others in Britain, falling into the hands of developers.
Eventually, the owners of an upmarket hotel and restaurant in our village put in a bid. But, it seemed, their intention was to turn it into an accommodation block for the influx of long distance and overseas workers hired for the 10-15 year construction of the nearby Sizewell C nuclear reactor – and, to our horror, without a bar.
The village, with its largely elderly population mixed with weekenders and holidaymakers, sprung into life. A meeting at the village hall saw more than 100 turn up, many of whom – I must admit – I’d rarely seen in the White Horse. But everyone was united by a wish to keep what they considered a vital community hub and piece of the area’s history: there has been a pub on the site since the 17th century.
In the end, we didn’t need the burning torches and pitchforks. Following negotiations with the potential owners, they realised the depth of feeling round here and agreed to keep the bar open and treat it as a community pub.
More than 200 pubs in the UK closed in the first half of this year – around eight every week. So to get one to reopen feels like a victory and a cause for celebration, as outlined by pub connoisseur John Sturgis for Spectator Life recently. A sense of realism dictates that the battle is not entirely over, though, and we need to work hard to make sure the White Horse is more successful that it was when Adnams decided it was not making enough money to keep open.
It’s the kind of pub which, at one time, every village, town, urban neighbourhood or estate would have had on their doorstep
It was not the kind of pub to win awards for selling a range of real ales or attract bearded Camra members who smell vaguely of Old Holborn. Nor was it decorated with horse brasses to give a fake impression of being authentically rural. There was no fruit machine, Sky Sports or loud music, and it’s unlikely the new version will include a restaurant. But it will be our local again, with its beer garden, view of the duck pond, dog-friendly policy (pretty much every pub in Suffolk is dog friendly – it pays) and with decent beer, hopefully at decent prices.
Most of all, it will have atmosphere. Gossip, laughter, a place to catch up with village life – but also welcoming to holidaymakers and second-homers. Suffolk pubs are not the kind of places where an outsider walks in, the piano stops playing and lots of people who all look like each other turn round and stare in silence. You have to go to Norfolk for that.
It’s a local’s local. The kind of pub which, at one time, every village, town, urban neighbourhood or estate would have had on their doorstep. My grandparents ran one in Staffordshire which is now a private home, I had a half share in one in Hampshire which went bust and thousands of others have gone the same way for one reason or another, whether it’s the punitive tax on alcohol, the cut-price competition from supermarkets, the emergence of new trends or the changing make-up of communities. Whatever the cause, it’s a classic case of you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
Saving our pub from closure is good news. Keeping it going will be better. Cheers.
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