Falling sales force pub to call last orders - for good
A Buckland Hollow pub is set to close after it was sold to a London buyer by the brewery.
Ten part-time jobs are also set to be lost when the Devonshire Arms calls last orders some time in March.
Tenant Dean Arnold, who took over as landlord in 2010, is now not only looking for a new job - but also a new home for himself and his teenage sons.
Dean, 46, said: “I have got to find everything - lock, stock and barrel. I am looking for another pub. Sales have been declining - trade has been getting tougher. There has been a lot less general custom.”
He said that a carvery on Sundays remained popular - as were music nights on Saturdays - but that it was hard to keep going on that basis.
Custom during the week had also slowed to the point he no longer opens on weekdays. Dean added: “Not enough people are coming out on Fridays. It’s quite remote so people have to drive or get taxis. I don’t think people have the money.”
Last year the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) found that 20 pubs closed in Derbyshire in the six months to March 2012 and the county was placed as fifth-worst hit by closures nationally. Since 2008 the number of regular pub goers has dropped by 3 million and more than 5,800 pubs have been forced to close their doors in the UK.
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Friday 24 May 2013
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