After 1,229 years, Britain’s ‘oldest pub’ faces closure
DESPITE surviving the English Civil War, 17 recessions, two World Wars and five pandemics, a pub reputed to be England’s oldest now faces ruin thanks to crippling energy costs
Ye Olde Fighting Cocks claims to have been in business since 793.
But co-owner Sam Walker, 39, fears it could join the two-thirds of pubs that experts warn are at risk of closing this winter unless they receive urgent help.
Ronan Gaffney, general manager of Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, in St Albans, Hertfordshire, said: ‘It’s outrageously more expensive. It’s not like at home where you can turn everything off but the fridge and freezer – we’ve got certain things that need to stay on for health and safety and general upkeep.
‘And our light bill is ten times more than what it is in a house.’
He said that hard-pressed homeowners can turn off all the lights except those in the room they occupy, adding: ‘You can’t do that in a pub. So we don’t have a choice. We can’t really cut down on energy bills – but we are being charged double the amount.’
With winter on its way, Mr Gaffney warned that pubs would see extra costs, and for many, fewer customers.
He added: ‘Winter for a lot of pubs, like my own, is the quiet season.
‘If pubs don’t have an infrastructure or financial backing then I can imagine that a lot of them will struggle.’
The pub is one of around ten laying claim to being the oldest in England.
When the business was established in the 8th century it was known as The Round House, although there is no record of it being licensed as a public house under that name. The first known reference to it being an alehouse is in 1756 when it appeared to trade as The Three Pigeons, before becoming the Fighting Cocks in around 1800.