Firm wants Dick Turpin’s pub back open again
THE owners of a historic 750-year-old village pub that recently shut have spoken about the closure.
The Cock Inn in Sibson, near Hinckley, reportedly once provided refuge for outlaw Dick Turpin, but the venue was closed last month.
Residents expressed their dismay at the news on a Facebook page set up for the idyllic thatched meeting point.
Star Pubs and Bars, the pub business of Heineken and owner of the pub, said: “The Cock Inn at Sibson is leased to an independent company to run as their own business. They closed the pub in early November.
“We would like to see The Cock Inn reopened as quickly possible and are liaising with the leaseholders for the pub to that end.”
One regular posted on the page about how the pub had been part of their life since they were eight.
They said: “My grandparents and family often met up here for Christmases and birthdays, it was our family pub, and our children have grown to love it as it became a place they celebrated family occasions with their grandparents and my cousins and aunts and uncles.
“I feel very sad that it’s closed and hope it will reopen and not become a house, as many village pubs do.”
The venue’s history was displayed on a wooden board in the pub.
On it was inscribed: “One of the oldest inns in England built in about 1250 AD, it witnessed the preparation and aftermath of the Battle of Bosworth Field and the death of Richard III and the start of the Tudor reign.
“The notorious highwayman Dick Turpin would return here after working the Watling Street, taking refuge in the bar chimney, stabling his horse in the cellar when pursuit was close at hand.
“The lawn at the rear was the site of a cock pit as recently as 1870.
“The inn owned by the church with a six day licence was sold in 1935. A seven day licence was granted in 1954.
“Existing stabling was converted in 1960 into the stable grill.”
The rural village of Sibson is situated on an upward slope on the north side of a tributary of the river Sence.