26/08/2020

CLOSURE OF THE FOX & CROWN

  • Written by Lewis Townsend
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WE ARE SADDENED TO ANNOUNCE THE CLOSURE OF THE FOX & CROWN AT THE END OF AUGUST.

These have been extremely challenging times and although we admire the manager Rosie and her team for their incredible efforts to keep things going, we just cannot afford to keep the pub open at this time.

The messages we try and communicate all year round about the importance of the local ring truer than ever, and we need to shout even louder: if you do not use your local, you will lose it.
Colleagues at the Fox and Crown will be retained on furlough for the time being and we will support them in any way we can. For now, we will leave you with Rosie’s words, whose commitment to  her pub has earned the respect and admiration of all of us.

We are heartbroken to announce that on Monday 31st August, after nearly 23 years, we will be closing our doors.

2020 has been an immeasurably difficult year for everyone – and as you are all aware, the hospitality trade has been hit incredibly hard. The threat of closure has always been a very real fear that is never far away – CAMRA statistics in 2018 showed UK Pubs closing at a rate of 18 per week; this is before the devastating impact of this year’s health crisis had even started.

However, as a licensee, I have always prayed hard and worked harder, to try and ensure my pub – The Fox and Crown – would never become one of them. It is devastating to think that the blood, sweat and tears we have poured into this Pub now end with us becoming another number in the awful tally of businesses bought to a close through this pandemic.

This pub has always been a special place in my eyes. Since the day it opened it has always been a place where people have comfortably felt able to visit alone – knowing they would be met with a friendly face and good conversation. It truly warms my heart when I think of the many friendships, relationships & even children that have been born from people meeting here as a ‘home from home’.

I know for many of our loyal customers this news will be as sad as it has been for the team who work here. To all of you, I want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts, for supporting us post lockdown. The absence of this pub will leave a hole that will be hard to fill for all of us. I hope that the happy memories made here over the last quarter of a century will never be forgotten.

As many of you know, Tynemill – now Castle Rock Brewery – was founded here in Newark in 1977 by Chris Holmes at The Old Kings Arms. All of us very much hope that this will not be the end of Newark’s tie to Castle Rock and would all love to see a return to the town where it all began in the future. However, the future remains very uncertain for the pub trade. When we close, we leave behind several worthy competitors in this town, as well as several operational Castle Rock venues across the East Midlands. I would urge you to support them; as our closure proves, nothing is certain in this time, and never has your support held so much power.

We would love for our closing weekend – which falls over the Bank Holiday – to be a true celebration of the Fox and Crown’s history, as well as a chance for everyone to make their last visit. As such, we have plans for several events over the weekend, all of which will be posted here in due course, alongside our planned extended opening hours for the weekend.

We hope to see you all before the 31st, to toast the many happy memories we have made here.

Love Rosie, Rachel, Danni, Mathilde, Lucy, Jemma & Ollie.

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