Vale Wheatsheaf and Swan

I have to admit that I was rather surprised when Matthew from the Wheatsheaf in Braishfield posted on Facebook last week that his pub had closed with immediate effect. I have noticed, of course, that pubs are closing - and in some cases closing quite abruptly. Two of the pubs in Grassmoor have closed over the past few months. One is now (I think) being converted into a house. The other is all boarded up and looking sad and lonely. One of the pubs in our village closed months ago and is also looking fairly forlorn. A Chesterfield pub is now a Tesco and several others are abandoned. As I say - I had noticed. But I was surprised by the Wheatsheaf. Whenever we have been there it has been very busy. It felt calm and secure. It gave absolutely no indication of being a pub under threat.  So surprised and a bit sad. I liked the Wheatsheaf. It did good food. It was a happy pub. It had nice staff.

On the other hand, I can't say that I was surprised to learn yesterday that its partner pub The Swan had also closed. We have been staying in The Swan when visiting Salisbury for several years now and had noticed, over the past few visits, that attention to the little details was fading away. Not big problems - little things like the shower door not hanging properly and the bed linen getting a wee bit tatty. Things that would have been dealt with very quickly at one time. Tiny alarm bells started ringing. We knew things were grim this weekend when we found that there was no pinot grigio or (on Sunday) sauvignon blanc or proper ale. The menu had seriously reduced. The standard of the food had fallen (although I have to say that the breakfasts were lovely - but even so). The place was looking dishevelled. The alarm bells became more like claxons.  So I was entirely unsurprised when Carl posted on Twitter and Facebook that they had also closed. I had pretty much been waiting for it since I learned The Wheatsheaf had gone under - and I knew it was coming after our weekend visit. Any decent pub in England that doesn't have either pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc is a pub in trouble. It is in deep trouble when it also doesn't have any real ale.

So we are very sad. We liked the Wheatsheaf. We liked The Swan. We enjoyed our visits to both pubs. And we like Matthew at the Wheatsheaf and Carl and Maris at The Swan.

I wonder where they will all end up. Maybe they will go to new pubs for us to play with.