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Community pub fears closure without new landlord

Bev Rimmer
News imageBev Rimmer/BBC Three men standing behind a bar, with a row of beer pumps in front of them. The man on the left has white hair and a white beard. He is wearing a dark green outdoor jacket. The man in the middle is bald, with a white moustache and is wearing glasses. He is also wearing a dark blue outdoor coat. The man on the right has curly white hair and a white beard and moustache. He is wearing a tan and black gilet over a red jumper. There is a row of spirit bottles on a shelf behind them.Bev Rimmer/BBC
From left to right, John Rooke, Gary Dew and Michael Hellowell, directors of Horningsea Community Interest Company

A community-owned village pub says it will be forced to close if it fails to find a new landlord.

The Plough and Fleece in Horningsea, near Cambridge, will see its current tenants and chef, who have been behind the bar for 18 months, move on at the end of March.

The venue, which dates back to the mid-19th Century according to its deeds, has been owned by the Horningsea Community Interest Company (HCIC) for the past 15 years.

HCIC said the tenancy would be ideal for a young couple seeking a new venture, especially if they were able to move into the flat above the pub.

News imageBev Rimmer/BBC The white-brick front of a public house. It says "PLOUGH AND FLEECE" in-between a green front door and a white window. The lettering is in capitals, and is gold-coloured. Underneath this, it says "COMMUNITY FREEHOUSE" in black capital lettering. A black billboard sign to the left of the green door reads: "Traditional Sunday Roast."Bev Rimmer/BBC
The Plough and Fleece in Horningsea may close without a new tenant landlord

Michael Hellowell, a director of HCIC, admitted the pub was facing challenging times.

He said: "All the utilities that are required for the pub have never gone down; they have constantly gone up.

"We don't have gas in the village - we have to buy oil - and every other service has increased.

"For the last two years or more, we've been existing on a business rate reduction, which we are going to lose.

"Even though we expect this to be reduced by the government, it will still be more than what we've been paying."

News imageBev Rimmer/BBC Sunlight streams in through a set of French doors and windows, onto a pub dining room that has four tables set out around the dining space. Each wooden, pine-coloured table has drinking glasses, napkins, and cutlery laid out, and a chair at each place. The left-most table has a small pot of pink flowers in the middle. Bev Rimmer/BBC
The dining room at the Plough and Fleece in Horningsea

To John Rooke, another HCIC director and a long-term resident of the village, the pub has meant the world.

He said: "It has a lot of history, and a lot of people know it.

"The front bar is always the one people go for, because they love our fire.

"We also get a lot of people who come through, as the river is very close and there are nice walks.

"It has all the character of a good village pub."

News imageBev Rimmer/BBC Three dark brown picnic benches stand on a square of gravel, underneath the canopy of a white marquee. A tan-coloured fence is to the left of the picture. The sun is shining. There are some green hedges in the background.Bev Rimmer/BBC
The Plough and Fleece boasts a large marquee and pub garden

Another of the pub's assets, according to its community owners, has included its ability to attract clubs and leisure groups.

Hellowell continued: "We have a book club, an art club, and various musical groups.

"Our petanque team is at the top of the local division.

"We do depend on customers coming from surrounding villages as well - Fen Ditton, Waterbeach Quy, Teversham, Milton."

Gary Dew, a third HCIC director and the company secretary, has lived in Horningsea for 20 years and has made the Plough and Fleece a regular haunt.

He said the venue had struggled to bounce back from the closures enforced by Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.

When asked who would make a good landlord, he added: "We need someone to come in and have a rethink of how we do things."

HCIC warned it would need to "move fast" to find a landlord by the start of April.

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