Ludlow’s Bull Hotel could be back in business in time for Christmas, after a former employee at the pub stepped in to run it.
Ann Morgan, who lives in Ludlow, worked at The Bull for the last 16 months. She and a friend heard people inside the building this week and went to investigate.
She told the Journal: “I’ve got a personal licence for the sale of alcohol. I asked if I could have my job back and they asked whether I would like to put my name down as the designated person. Hopefully we’ll be open by the end of next week.”
Staff at The Bull were given two days notice the previous landlords were leaving.
Ann will be in charge on a temporary basis and doesn’t yet know if they can take on the old members of staff. Decisions about entertainments at The Bull, and whether to carry on using bouncers would be made by a holding company, Miss Morgan said.
Agents for Publicana, the company looking after the building on behalf of Marston’s, said they would keep the licence as it is, following a review by the district council, but would close around 11.30pm or midnight to avoid upsetting local residents.
In a separate development, Paul Kemp, landlord at the Bridge Inn, told the Journal he was trying to organise the traditional Boxing Day tug of war.
He said: “We’ve got a lot of connections with people from the Bull, people who worked there, and drank there. It’ll be on Boxing Day, it’ll be exactly the same as usual. It’ll be a team of Bridge past customers and past Bull people, including Phil Maile. If they are re-opening, we’re definitely still interested in going ahead.”
Miss Morgan said: “We spoke to The Feathers on Wednesday, it’s been a tradition for many years and we are interested in keeping it going.” No one from The Feathers Hotel was available for comment.