Mystery of pub closure

3:21pm Thursday 24th January 2008

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LICENSEES Elliot Jeffries and his son Josh have quit the Rose and Crown pub just three months after moving in.

Regulars at the Rose and Crown in Market Place, Chippenham, were surprised to find it closed early this month and a metal sheet sealing off the door.

The father and son duo refused to comment on the reason for the closure.

A spokesman for Enterprise Inns, which owns the pub, would not comment on rumours that the pub had closed after running into financial difficulties.

He said: "The pub is temporarily closed while we search for a quality operator to run it. We cannot comment on the financial aspect of any of our pubs."

The closure comes just months after Josh Jeffries, 24, spoke of his plans to transform the failing pub.

He said at the time: "I want to see the pub return to its glory days when it was the busiest pub in the town."

He also planned to bring in DJs at the weekends to attract a younger crowd, something he had succeeding in doing with the Little George pub in New Road, which they took over shortly before the Rose and Crown. They also run the Old Road Tavern.

The pub achieved online fame in a recent Internet poll on the social networking site FaceBook, where it was named as Chippenham's top venue.

Regular Richard Armand, 44, said: "It had lost its edge and got a reputation as a bit of a trouble spot, although I always enjoyed the atmosphere in there."

The pub is used as one of the venues for the Chippenham Folk Festival.

Festival organiser Bob Berry said: "I am praying someone will take it over before the festival. Otherwise we would have to re-jig festivities on that side of the town."