Residents should try pub trade
I can sympathise with the locals and former landlord of the Swan Inn, Frodesley, over the pub's closure. Obviously residents of Frodesley neither ate nor drank enough to make the pub pay, so the proprietors had to close or face bankruptcy.
Locals have the solution in their own hands if they want the pub to reopen - club together, form a co-operative and pay the asking price.
Then they will have the opportunity to make a profit and provide a public service, as the pub did years ago before the breathaliser stopped the 12 or 15 pint regulars from driving home.
That was the reality of the country pub in the 1950s and early 60s with a smoke- filled bar and outside urinal.
Recently in Bishop's Castle I noticed two pubs to let and the easiest way to bankruptcy is to become a licensee or so an ex-publican told me. Business rates, heating costs, even if you get just one customer who drinks half a pint of shandy in the evening, staff costs, licences, water rates, environmental laws. A pub kitchen can cost £40,000 to comply with standards.
And if you don't go broke, your marriage may break up; you could die of an alcohol related illness, be robbed and murdered, be burned down or bottled in the face by a drunken lout. It's a wonder there are any pubs left. How about giving it a go Swan supporters? My bet is that within 12 months the pub will shut again.
WF Kerswell, Church Stretton
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