The Crowdfunding efforts
continued and enough was raised via donations
and grants to purchase the building, but despite
realistic offers from the
Parish Council, matching then
exceeding the market value assessed
by independent valuers at the
time, the owners still refused to accept
and the pub remained unused for some
time.
Then in mid 2019 a local
couple bought the pub. Yarcombe
Voices reported, "Their vision is to see the
pub restored to the glory of its former days,
their wish is to give the village back its
heart". But despite hiring
excellent staff, the best ever seen here
according to some, the pub floundered
once again and was closed before a year had
passed. COVID, several months
into its evil spell, was partly responsible.
The owners, via e-Voices
(a local news-via-email service) announced in July 2020,
"We have instructed a
commercial agent who specialises in public
houses. Their advice is to market the pub ‘To
Let’ and to also include the opportunity to take
the freehold, as it is not uncommon for a tenant
to require the option to buy after a couple of
years in their lease."
In the very next edition of Yarcombe Voices
(which had a
deadline for articles of 15th July) the Parish Council Chairman
wrote "Following the message in e-Voices on
3rd July that a new tenant landlord was being
sought to take over The Yarcombe Inn, we now
learn it has been placed on the market with a
selling agent. It is hoped that a buyer will
soon be found and that The Yarcombe Inn will be
reopened in the near future. The Parish Council
discussed this development along with the
current ACV (Asset of Community Value) and have
decided to apply to East Devon District Council
to have this listing extended. The primary
purpose of this action is to protect the
property for the community and ensure that it
remains a public house."
The extension to the ACV was
granted by EDDC and remains active until
at least September 2025. The Parish
Council have voiced their intention to extend
further if necessary. In the meantime the owners sold
the building and an advert was subsequently
spotted on the website of an estate agent /
financial investor.
As the COVID crisis slowly
eased, the new owner found tenants who tried
hard between mid 2021 and mid 2022, but it was
their first attempt at running a public house
and, following a hefty rent increase, they
understandably declined to continue at the end of
their one year lease.
In November 2022 it
seems another "tenant" rented the staff living
quarters claiming they were about to
open for business, but this was soon
recognised as false information. A May 2023
opening date was later announced but
questionable problems,
initially with the electricity
supply, then with phone and internet
connections, were said to have adversely affected progress,
causing a slippage just as the vital summer
trade begins. It was claimed that everything that could go
have gone wrong has done so, although full details
were hard to obtain and claims frequently
changed and conflicted with previous statements.
On top of this it was surprisingly announced that
cellar relocation was to be scheduled
and that this work would rule out an opening date
in the month of August 2023. Relocation of the cellar,
clearly unnecessary, was
reported to have been completed around
24th August 2023, so some locals optimistically
awaited an
announcement of an opening date!
However in response, it was stated:
"We are in no hurry now as the summer season is
pretty much over."
Also a Facebook post dated 26th August 2023 detailed
further dubious ongoing or future work on
interior painting, exterior plants, kitchen
refurbishment and recruitment, none of which materialised.
In mid-September 2023 the
game was still being played. Several
villagers reported that they'd heard a chef was
about to take up residence and that the pub will
be opening "in a few weeks", presumably ruling
out a September 2023 opening date. No
sign of a chef has been seen.
Further time passed and by
early November 2023 it was no surprise that an opening date had still
not been announced. Villagers, many
of whom were involved in the running of the pub
as a Community Inn and have at least some
knowledge of these matters were puzzled and
suspicious about the lack of progress and
financial viability but waited hoping there were no further
"problems".
Christmas 2023 / New Year
2024 passed by with no significant news or opening
plans and a designated
premises supervisor, essential for the sale of
alcohol, had still not been appointed. It
was mentioned that much of the kitchen
equipment had been condemned although it was in
excellent condition during the last tenants' reign.
Recent delays, it is claimed, have been caused
by the opening of another pub which the tenant
has so far declined to name. One
possibility is The Royal Oak in Hawkeridge,
Wiltshire. Another associated pub,
The Market House Inn in Bridport, has now closed
after reopening only a year ago in late 2022.
It seems this tenant disappeared
around April 2024 after removing himself from the
village Facebook group and closing the Yarcombe
Inn's Facebook account.
Autumn / Winter 2024 Update
In
October 2024, with virtually no previous
announcement, the owner
installed new renter(s) who do not appear to be publicans. Their
stated business involved cats, coffee and tables
at various prices per hour.
The notable difference was that at
least there was no pretence of an attempt to run
a pub, but how this aligned with the building's
ACV status or the Parish Council's pledge
regarding the preservation of the village's only
public house is unknown.
In mid-November 2024 it was
announced that the business had temporarily
closed, then that it was reopening, but as of
mid December 2024 there were unknown problems
preventing progress.
2025 Update
The arrival of 2025 sees the
inn again in uncertain circumstances with cats
from the previous business (or is it still the
current business?) occupying the building with
occasional visits from the cats' owners or
relatives thereof. However, by all
accounts this business has now closed and in
February 2025 the owner started advertising for
publican tenants again. We await further
developments with interest.
Good News in April 2025
In an announcement on
Facebook's Yarcombe page dated 23rd April we
read the following:
Hello
everyone!
We’re Justine
and Kieran, and we’re really excited
to say that we’ll be taking on the
Yarcombe Inn as tenants! And will be
moving in in the next few days.
We know the
pub has had a bit of a rocky road
lately, and you’ve probably seen
posts like this before — but we
really hope this is the one that
sticks. We’ve already heard how much
the village wants to see the pub
back open, and that’s exactly what
we want to create: something for
everyone, built around the
community.
Kieran has
over 15 years of experience in
hospitality, and together we’ve run
community village pubs before. It’s
something we care deeply about.
Our goal is to make the Yarcombe Inn
a place that truly belongs to the
village — welcoming, useful, and
shaped around what you want it to
be.
We’d love to
hear your thoughts, and very soon
we’ll be inviting everyone to a
relaxed afternoon at the pub to say
hello and have a friendly chat —
whether it’s what you’d like to see
on the bar, what beers and ales
you’d enjoy, what food your fancy,
events you'd love, or little touches
that would make a difference.
We’ll also be around for the next
Village Market and the Parish
Council AGM!
We’ve got a
bit of decorating to do and a few
things to sort behind the bar and in
the kitchen, but we’re aiming to be
properly open by the end of May
(maybe even a little earlier on the
bar side, if we get the lines
running in time!).
And if anyone
fancies popping by to lend a hand,
or has a tool or two they wouldn’t
mind us borrowing… don’t hesitate —
we’d be incredibly grateful!
Huge thanks to
Céline for letting us share updates
here (FB). We’ll also be setting up
a Facebook and Instagram page for
the pub very soon if you’d like to
follow along there too.
We can’t wait
to meet more of you very soon!
Warmly,
Justine & Kieran
|
|
Taken in front of The Yarcombe Inn circa
1900. Not a hatless head in
sight!
Standing, Top: Fred Palmer & Tom Gready
Sitting
Left to Right: William Clarke, Sidney
Clarke, John Palmer
Standing: Tom
Goodland, Mr Matthews, Robert Gready (Woodhayne), _, _, Mr Clarke (Newcott),
R Wyatt (Hillhouse), Sam Phillips, John
Matthews(?), Tom Spiller (Livehayne), _,
_, Mr Edwards, Sam Wyatt (Pithayne),
John Bright (Stockland).
Steve Horner remarks:
Robert Gready (born 1846 and died in
Buckland St Mary, 1926) was a tenant at
Woodhayne from 1870 to 1926.
Tom Gready his son, standing at the back
(r), was born in Yarcombe in 1876.
Robert's nephew Dennis (Dan) Gready took
over from 1926 to 1933. |