29th March 2021

Dear Community

Chamberlayne Farms would like to confirm our thinking with regards to the re-opening of The Swan following a recent meeting with the Parish Council.  

We all discussed and agreed on the vital role community facilities have within the villages and The Parish Council stated their desire to see the pub re-open. Following these discussions, we are pleased to confirm that The Swan will be re-opening, albeit it on a limited basis, whilst options for the longer-term future for the pub are further investigated.

Current situation

The Covid pandemic has seen the permanent closure of thousands of pubs across the country.  We understand the vital role pubs play in their community and it is not, nor has it ever been our intention, to keep the doors of The Swan closed. However, since taking ownership of The Swan in 2014, the pub has run at a loss year on year and this cannot be commercially maintained.  

Community-run pub/hub

When we met with the Parish Council, we discussed options for a possible re-opening of the pub and how we felt the pub could succeed with community involvement.  By being managed as a community run asset (outside of Chamberlayne Farms control), it is hoped that The Swan can again become a thriving pub with far lower operating overheads.  As well as operating as a pub, the Parish Council expressed interest in the possible introduction of wider services such as a shop which would be of further benefit to the wider community.  

With this in mind, it would be great to see what interest there is for pursuing such an idea.  Interested members of the community could form a group to work together with the Parish Council to establish what might be possible at The Swan to create a village pub/hub.

Re-opening

From Friday 21st May, we are planning to re-open The Swan on Friday & Saturday evenings for drinks only. You would be welcome to have take-away food delivered to the pub and we are looking into the possibility of street-food vans visiting the pub car park at weekends.  

Whilst we realise that this may not be the full offering the community would like, we also recognise that keeping the doors closed is not something we or the community want.  

Re-opening the pub on this basis provides a great opportunity for the community to meet and share views on the idea of a community pub/hub and establish whether there is genuine interest and support for the idea.

The re-opening will be dependent on the Government’s ‘roadmap’ targets being met.  We will be able to welcome groups of six individuals or two-households to drink inside the pub initially, with all remaining restrictions hopefully being lifted towards the end of June.

Land adjacent to The Swan

For the sake of complete transparency, we have also been in discussion with the Parish Council to discuss potential plans for a housing development in the field adjacent to the pub, which would include community facilities such as a play area as well as a flood alleviation scheme for the A417.  Our hope is that with a cross subsidy from a development in the neighbouring field, the pub facilities could move from a fully commercial basis to a community led facility in the heart of the village, without the degree of normal commercial overheads.

Next steps

If you have any ideas or would like to become involved in a working group that could take on the staffing, management and possible diversification of the pub then we would love to hear from you and we are sure that the Parish Council would love to hear from you too.  There is a great deal of support available for such groups through organisations such as The Plunkett Foundation – a charity which supports groups with running community-led pubs (www.plunkett.co.uk) – as well as Government grants available to secure the long-term viability of local amenities. Please directly message us via the Swan’s Facebook page or alternatively, please email us here; rob@chamberlaynefarms.co.uk

In the meantime, we very much look forward to opening the doors of The Swan and seeing you all again soon.