Community joy as pub reopens 12 years after fire

Colin Owens, Ed Leigh and Brian Hall have toasted the reopening of The George community pub in Wickham Market

A community has celebrated the return of its only village pub, 12 years after it burned down.

Residents of Wickham Market, in Suffolk, saw The George go up in flames in April 2013.

A group got together in 2016 to buy the site and a project – boosted by a £1m grant from the National Lottery – came to fruition when the doors reopened on Saturday 9 June.

"It's run to the benefit of the community and now we're open it's proving to be quite a success," said Colin Owens, project lead of the venue's management committee.

"The volunteer group raised in excess of £2m to complete the project and restore The George to be much more than it was - to be more than a pub."

The pub is Grade II listed and dates back to the 16th Century.

Plans from a private developer to demolish and redevelop the site were rejected by East Suffolk Council in 2016 due to it being "a building of significant historic interest". Now 476 shareholders own a stake in its future.

The roof and first floor of The George Pub was destroyed in a fire in 2013

An extension to the back of the building includes new kitchen and toilet facilities, with a remodelled layout. An upstairs function room can host 60 people.

Its original fireplace was retained and food will start being served later this month, although with table reservations only being taken on Sundays to try maintaining a welcoming atmosphere.

Pub manager Ed Leigh said: "It's fantastic. It's been a really pleasurable experience. The whole community has got behind it.

"The wide range of people – families, older people, younger people – everyone seems to be really relishing the fact that they can take a quick stroll and have a drink or a coffee.

"Once the food comes on board, we'll be absolutely nailing it."

The pub has been treated to a lick of paint and new windows

The new lease of life is welcome news for Brian Hall, one of the shareholders.

"It's brilliant, we've been waiting for this for a long, long while," said Mr Hall.

"The first week we had just over 200 people here and that was on limited access until we got fully staffed."

The original fireplace of The George pub has been retained during the rebuild

However, the management committee has had some early complaints about noise from neighbours.

Sandy, who did not want to give her last name, moved to a property in High Street, the same road as the pub, in 2019.

She said: "During the planning process we were promised that there would be a ventilation system so that all of the doors and windows of the pub would be closed and the noise of the customers wouldn't affect us neighbours.

"Unfortunately that hasn't been the case and all the doors and windows have been open, and because there is no carpet or soft furnishings, the noise is just reverberating down the road - so much so that neighbours haven't been able to open our windows."

She added: "We are hoping it will be resolved and there is one really simple resolution – please, please for the residents' sake, close the doors and windows."

Sandy lives near The George and is unhappy about noise disturbance

Pub manager Mr Leigh is aware of the issues raised.

He said: "There are people in the community, as you would expect in any vibrant community, who are completely opposed to us being here.

"I am sorry about that.

"We will do what we can to make things as unobtrusive as possible but we can't do everything."

Mr Owens added that a thorough consultation process was carried out in recent years.

He said: "In every situation like this, there is bound to be people that object. They tend to be local to the pub and don't particularly want to live near a pub – even though it's been here for 500 years."