Hook-a-Gate’s Cygnets pub, near Shrewsbury, to close
Thursday 12th August 2010, 12:52PM BST.
A family-run Shropshire pub is being forced to shut after hikes in beer and rent made it impossible to balance the books, the landlords said.
The Cygnets in Hook-a-Gate, near Shrewsbury, will close on Monday despite tens of thousands of pounds being invested by business manager Viv Jones.
Mr Jones said they had been left with no choice after battling to keep afloat for nearly six years.
He said hundreds of people turned out for their Sunday lunches but a non-existent weekday trade had made it difficult to break even, with rising rent and beer prices.
The Cygnets has been run by Mr Jones’s son Ian and his wife Clair who will now be turning their attention to the other pub they run, the Cock Inn, in Brockton.
About five people will lose their jobs but Mr Jones believes another tenant has been lined up by Admiral Taverns.
Mr Jones added: “We are always flat-out on the weekends and we usually have well over a hundred people in two different sitting for our Sunday lunches. But the weekday trade is where we have struggled.
“Attempts have been made to draw people in and we tried football and darts clubs but, with price of the rent and beer going up, there was little we could do.”
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Been there and done that, just sorry to see yet another pub close, due to greedy pub companies and rising prices.
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