SOS Save Our Swan, 1995 Jane Hussey June 2018 Photos courtesy Tim Wright
If you don’t think The Swan Inn is in a rural location, have a look at the photo above of Kingsdown in the 1970s. The pub has often been described as in a precarious position both on the edge of a cliff and isolated from many local houses by difficult roads and tracks. As well as these problems, adverse weather severely affects the pub as can be seen from the photos below taken in 1962.
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In 1995 matters came to a head when the following notice appeared in Kingsdown.
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SOS Save Our Swan pub
Gibbs Mew are selling the Swan Inn, Kingsdown. It will probably close. You can help to prevent this by attending a public meeting at the pub on Tuesday 11 April 1995 at 7.30 pm. Your views are important – and your help is vital |
There was plenty of publicity and a local newspaper published a full-page article:
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SWAN SONG Regulars hope to save their local.
VILLAGERS PLAN TO BUY OUT PUB Regulars at a village pub are so angry it is being put up for auction that they are rallying round to try to buy it themselves. The landlord and landlady at the Swan Inn, Kingsdown, near Bath, received a letter from their brewery last week saying the pub was being put up for auction at the end of May (1995). But locals are furious and are meeting tonight to see if they can raise the £200,000 needed. (Landlady Sam Eley) who has run the pub with her husband John for the past year said she was shocked to receive the letter. She said: ‘We had the letter on Saturday saying the pub was being put up for auction. The locals are not at all happy about it. We have three children and it is not a nice prospect to think about having to move. We have put everything we had into the pub and it really is beautiful with lovely views.’ Ruggero Violappo, who had lived in the village for 8 years and organised the meeting said: ‘We are going to raise enough money between us to keep the pub open. It is the only thing we have in Kingsdown. There is no bus service, no street lighting, and the post office was shut 15 years ago. It is a very popular pub and is a focal point for local people. We do not want to be without a pub.’ David King, retail director for Salisbury-based Gibbs Mew brewery, which owns the pub, said: ‘We have carried out a strategic review and decided to sell the Swan Inn as it does not fit into our portfolio. It will be auctioned at the end of May. The current licensees have been given the first option to purchase the pub. It is a super pub.’ Mr King said he thought the property was probably worth in the region of £200,000. A neighbour of the pub, who did not want to be named, said he felt the brewery had done it a disservice over the years as the licence seemed to change hands every year. He said: ‘It doesn’t really inspire loyalty when there’s no continuity. To be fair to the present couple, I’ve heard good reports of their food.’ He described the £2000,000 price as a joke. He said: ‘That’s a ridiculously high price.' |
My husband and I filled in the petition to Gibbs Mew sent to us by Sam Eley, that the Swan should only be sold as a licenced premises and for no other use. Either Sam or her husband John was a trained chef – hence the reference to the good food.
The pub was saved but continued to have problems of erosion, location and adverse weather. It is remarkable that it has been a survivor when so many other pubs in the village have been closed.
The pub was saved but continued to have problems of erosion, location and adverse weather. It is remarkable that it has been a survivor when so many other pubs in the village have been closed.