Winterbourne Abbas pub closes (From Dorset Echo)

Winterbourne Abbas pub closes

2:30pm Tuesday 14th February 2012 in Local News By Harry Hogger

LOCALS have been left feeling ‘gutted’ by the sudden closure of a village pub.

Visitors to The Coach and Horses in Winterbourne Abbas are now confronted with a locked door and a sign from those running the pub explaining the reasons behind the closure.

The free house pub, a former coaching inn dating back to the early nineteenth century, was taken over by Liz and Andy Venning in 2002.

The message on the door says: “It is with deep regret (totally gutted actually) that we have been forced to cease trading at The Coach and Horses as of Monday, February 6, 2012.

“In this never-ending difficult economic climate, we can no longer meet our escalating VAT bills.

“We apologise firstly to our wonderful staff, and to all our lovely customers, specially the regulars. Thank you for all the good times.

“Cheers! Andy, Liz and family.”

The note also states the family could not cope with the increased rent.

A message on the pub’s website reads: “Sadly we have been forced to close. We are desperately sorry and would like to thank everyone for their support now and in the past.”

Matthew Boyden, who lives near to the pub, said: “It will be a great shame for the local area because a lot of my neighbours go there.

“I like the food in there and the first I knew about it was on Saturday night when I drove past and it was all in darkness.

“I always thought they were keeping their heads above water as it has always been quite packed when I’ve been there.

“My heart goes out to them, they were always super friendly in there whenever I saw them.”

Fellow villager Karen Green said: “Everyone is gutted.

“From a personal point of view I think they could have done more in there, maybe on a Friday or Saturday night, that would have attracted more people.

“But it was a nice pub and they were quite friendly in there.”

Dave Harris, the chairman for West Dorset CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) said it was a difficult time for the pub sector, not just locally but nationally with CAMRA estimating up to 15 pubs were closing every week.

He said: “It’s a difficult time for everyone but particularly for the more rural pubs.

“Because of the reduction in the economy there is less money in people’s pockets and they are in the business of selling food and drink when you have got supermarkets being able to do loss leaders at below the cost of production, it makes it very difficult to compete.

“It’s so hard to know how we can turn it round.

“I have been to the Coach and Horses three or four times and it always seemed a nice place to be and there was always something going on in there.”