Brewery's old-fashioned rules prevent Spalding pub reopening - council

The pub suffered suspected structural damage in the crash on 30 November

A brewery's "old-fashioned" rules are preventing a town's 16th-century pub from reopening, a council leader has said.

The Ye Olde White Horse, in Spalding, which was damaged in a car crash last week, has been shut since 2019.

However, South Holland District Council leader Nick Worth said owners Samuel Smith's Brewery had several "niche" requirements for landlords , including only wanting couples to run their pubs.

Samuel Smith's declined to comment.

Mr Worth said the council was in "continual discussions" with the brewery after threatening to issue a clean-up notice on the venue in September.

"The accident was a bit unfortunate but we will continue working with them to bring the building into the state it should be in as a listed building," he said.

"We will work with them to try and find a couple that can run the pub and try and bring it back to use. That's the issue for us, we want to see it back in use."

According to its website, the brewery "prefer to recruit couples who haven't run a pub before and are from the communities near to where our pubs are situated".

Swearing and the use of mobile phones is outlawed inside their venues, it added, with no music, TVs or fruit machines allowed either.

Mr Worth said: "They have a niche sort of people they want to run the pub, which may be a bit old-fashioned but nonetheless we will work with them and try and help them do that.

"It doesn't make it easy.

"There are people locally who would be interested in running it but they are just not couples."

The pub has been closed for more than four years.

The venue in Church Gate is one of the oldest buildings in Spalding, but parts of it have fallen into disrepair since its closure.

A section 215 notice would force the owners to tidy up the premises, but Mr Worth said the council was "not really an authority that likes pushing people to do things".

"If we have to enforce something, we will enforce it. But I would rather have a dialogue and find a solution," he told the BBC.

The pub is known for its distinctive thatched roof and white exterior walls.

"It was always very popular when it was open," Mr Worth added.

"There are a few windows that need replacing and you could do with a little bit of painting.

"Something is going to need to be done because I think that's had some structural effects on the corner of the pub [after the crash].

"While they are doing that you might as well spend a bit of time and effort doing everything else."