RIP The Queen's Head, Coggleshall

Sad but not exactly breaking news.

I have just discovered that The Queen’s Head, a pub in Coggleshall, Essex, whose landlord Paul Lofthouse (above) helped launch Forest’s campaign to amend the smoking ban in 2009, not only closed in 2011, it was severely damaged ‘after a blaze ripped through’ the derelict pub in 2017.

I first visited The Queen’s Head in January 2009, writing about it here. The Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign was in development and Paul helpfully organised a meeting with local publicans to which I was invited to explain our plans.

What I didn’t know was that he had also alerted the local media and so BBC regional news sent a camera crew and the local newspaper also ran a report (Pub industry supports new campaign to save trade).

Although most of the publicans supported our campaign, a second meeting highlighted some of the problems we would face.

Those in favour of the ban were a tiny minority. Paul however was one of only a very few prepared to get actively involved.

The truth is, most publicans didn’t have time. They worked long hours and keeping their pubs open was a full-time job in itself.

Most were short of staff so they had to work behind the bar as well as do everything else. Sometimes, as I soon discovered, it was a struggle to get them to even come to the phone.

I knew that Paul had spent quite a lot of money refurbishing The Queen’s Head. What I didn’t know was that, before he and his wife took it on, the pub had been closed for 13 years so he was clearly taking a bit of a gamble.

The smoking ban had effected business, he told me, which is why he was keen to help persuade the government to amend the ban to allow designated smoking rooms.

The Queen’s Head was a good size and there was a separate room that Paul hoped to turn into a well-ventilated smoking room where customers could drink and smoke in comfort.

When we launched the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign at a pub in Westminster in June 2009 Paul was there with a delegation of Essex publicans.

Unfortunately a combination of factors, including the smoking ban, appears to have forced him to close the pub, and even before the building was severely damaged by fire it doesn’t look like it was going to reopen any time soon.

The latest report I can find suggested the land may be sold for housing.

It’s particularly sad when you read this description of the pub on WhatPub.com, circa 2009:

Rescued from dereliction thanks to a major investment after many years of closure, the Queen's Head has a light and airy, modern interior but maintains the feelings of a real pub. The restaurant area offers an excellent daily carvery 12-2 pm and 7-9 pm (12-7 Sun), plus bar meals.

A full range of beers from the nearby Red Fox Brewery is complimented [sic] by occasional guest ales. The landlord heads a national campaign to amend the smoking ban, and a separate old-style bar is planned to take advantage of the change, if it happens.

Compare too the photo above - taken when I visited the Queen’s Head in January 2009 - with these photos taken in 2016, five years after the pub closed.

The comparison is stark, and shocking. Another pub gone and largely forgotten.

Comments

[Pat Nurse]

Right there with smoking bans in pubs is where the first salvos in this 21st century culture war began.

I cannot think of anything more civilised than plans to install a separate old-style bar. Shame that Government would never see the error of its ways in closing down pubs for the sake of a political agenda to create a future world without smokers.

Nothing has been pleasant or civilised in this country since swivel eyed zealous Government began to demand how we live our legal private lives, who can be welcomed and accommodated in alleged public places which now only belong to perfect human specimens willing to shape up as they're told.

Shame on our Governments over the last 2 decades. Shame on them for killing the culture of this country. Shame on them for deciding that bullying is better than tolerance and civilised behaviour of inclusion for all.