Residents of Clun are totally fed up with living in a town with only one pub and blame the situation on lack of action by brewery giant Marston’s.
A further problem for townsfolk is the thousands of visitors, many of them thirsty, who are expected in town over the bank holiday for the Clun Green Man Festival.
There were three pubs in Clun in 2001 – the Buffalo, the Sun Inn and the White Horse Inn – now only the White Horse remains. The Buffalo went in 2001 and the Marston’s house, The Sun, closed in January.
Last month John Chidlow, former editor of the Clun Chronicle newsletter, wrote to the managing director of Marston’s, Alistair Darby, asking if the brewery’s failure to find another tenant was due to the “exorbitant” rent they were asking for The Sun.
The MD replied on March 17 that the firm was seeking a new tenant but for “legal reasons” concerning the lease they were unable to put in a relief manager.
Mr Chidlow, who worked for Bass for 14 years, said this week: “The town will be bulging at the seams for the Green Man. There will be a beer tent but it won’t be enough for some three to four thousand people.”
He added that Marston’s wanted £30,000 a year in rent and a tenant would not be able to make a living on those terms. Resident David Britten told the Journal: “It’s a sad situation for the town and lessens the quality of life here. There are other meeting places of course but it’s not the same. The Didlicks tried very hard to make a go of it but just couldn’t manage it.”
Graham and Fiona Didlick were tenants at the Sun Inn for 16 months but and worked hard but, financially, they weren’t able to survive. Mrs Didlick said they took the decision to leave because of increasing rent and running costs, and diminishing trade.
Several residents told the Journal they were surprised Marston’s hadn’t just put a relief manager in the pub to stop the fabric decaying. Green Man organiser Liz Campbell said: “Marston’s has done rather badly here. We are expecting more than 3,000 people and they could have sold a lot of drinks and food. We have only got room on the site for one beer tent.
On Wednesday a Marston’s spokesman, Greg Aris, told the Journal: “We are currently in talks with potential new tenants for the Sun Inn and expect to reopen soon with the best possible tenants for the pub.”
At the White Horse, landlord Jack Limond was unperturbed about being the only pub in the town at Festival time. “We’ll just have to cope,” he said.
