South Cave's Fox and Coney pub closes doors
FAMILIES in South Cave are disheartened by the closure of their village pub.
The Fox and Coney Inn shut its doors after its landlord failed to turn a profit.
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Called time: The Fox and Coney pub in Market Place, South Cave. Picture: Rob Stebbing
This is the fourth time in nine years a leaseholder of the pub has abandoned their contract with landlords Enterprise Inns.
Villagers believe community spirit is being hampered by ever-changing tenants at the pub.
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Carl Barnett, manager of village football team South Cave United, said: "It's a real shame for us as that's where we meet after a game.
"The focal point of the village has been taken away and it's detrimental to the community as a whole."
Former landlord Vincent Garcia was forced to close the pub on Monday, September 17.
He claimed it was suffering significant losses.
Mr Garcia, 53, feels the pub is unsustainable.
He said: "High rent and expensive beer make it almost impossible to make the place succeed."
With about 3,000 premises around the country, Enterprise Inns is one of the UK's largest pub companies.
It sells leases to publicans and charges rent on the properties they occupy.
Mr Garcia said: "The rent has more than doubled in the two-and-a-half years I've had the place."
Licensees are restricted to buying alcohol from Enterprise and Mr Garcia believes their prices are too high.
He said: "They charge you an arm and a leg for alcohol.
"After knocking off wages, bills and tax, I was making next to nothing on drink."
He accepts the business was stifled by the economic climate but feels his contractors have done little to help.
Alan Canvess, chairman of Hull and East Riding's Campaign for Real Ale, believes it is a dark era for the British pub.
He said: "Today, landlords come and go so quickly.
"They are lured in with cheap rent deals but then – when the rents go back to normal – they discover they can't make a living and they're out of the door.
"I think big companies look at pubs simply as bricks, mortar and land they can sell for development."
The British Beer and Pub Association said 30 pubs are closing each week.
Enterprise Inns said it intends to reopen the Fox and Coney Inn, which employs more than 20 South Cave villagers, as soon as possible.
Comments
by The Alma Inn
Friday, November 02 2012, 3:26PM
“The brewery companies have a lot of blame on their shoulders, but at the end of the day this was a village pub trying to be a restaurant. I have used it several times and used the accommodation, but it was mediochre to middling rather than magnificent.
My local pub was a thriving business, the rent was horrendous, the landlord rightly left and the pub is open again with a peppercorn rent for the new landlady. From a busy Friday with 100 plus people in, it has gone down to 5 or 6.
It is disgusting behaviour”
by unified
Monday, October 29 2012, 2:22PM
“I use the Hungry Horse, (once the Darleys) Boothferry Road and it is thriving.
Maybe its because the price of food is in the region of £8.50 x 2 meals and the quality is good.
Use it twice a week because it is cheap to eat there.
I agree the Brewers have a lot to answer for as far as beer and rents go.”
by Britincal2010
Friday, October 26 2012, 5:38PM
“I was in the Rose and Crown in Beverley recently and the manager told the same story, don't know if it was Enterprise but she said extortionate drink and rent prices had forced them out and they were leaving. Sounds to me as if it's this kind of greed that's killing pubs rather than the smoking ban whose time had come anyway. There are a lot of retirees around now and them and many others are averse to paying over the top prices for drinks and food, especially in this economy.”
by jonzhome
Wednesday, October 24 2012, 10:01PM
“I don't know of any pub owned by Enterprise that makes the landlords a decent living”
by CarmellaBrown
Wednesday, October 24 2012, 9:51PM
“ber went bust cos the man died and the woman had issues with bottles. fox n coney has gone bust 2 times, same people wiv diff. names. its all on the london gazette hon see for yourselfes.”
by whoknowswhat
Wednesday, October 24 2012, 9:32PM
“I think Carmella Brown must be connected with the pub across the road. She also has a short memory. It (the Bear) actually went bust a couple of years ago and it was Vince Garcia and his partner who stepped in to keep it going till a new tenant could be found. A village the size of South Cave needs and should be able to support two pubs.”
by MarkJones1970
Wednesday, October 24 2012, 9:27PM
“Enterprise want £54,000 a year rent. Thats over £1000 a week. Then you have to buy all your drinks (not just beer) from them at inflated prices. Its just greed. No-one can make a profit on those terms.”
by swallo
Wednesday, October 24 2012, 7:04PM
“The pub game is the only one where
if you are successful you are punished
i.e. you take a pub on that is on its knees
you graft hard and increase trade
the pub company then rubs its hands
because the more beer you sell
the more rent you pay
because rent is lnked to barrelage”
by CarmellaBrown
Wednesday, October 24 2012, 6:45PM
“Its Hygeine Rating was a 2”
by ianhale1965
Wednesday, October 24 2012, 4:14PM
“If the local community are not supporting the landlord and there is little passing trade I guess then this will be inevitable. Happened so many times already, I guess it is quite simply unsustainable. Question is what has Enterprise Inns done to help attract custom? You cannot rely on a limited supply of locals to prop up the place!”