A VILLAGE pub near Swindon in Wiltshire may be under threat unless a buyer comes forward.
The Elm Tree pub, on Strouds Hill, in Chiseldon, is priced at £330,000 on a freehold sale, but so far no publican or pub company has expressed interest in purchasing the venue. The current tenancy is soon to come to an end.
Property agents, London-based Paramount Investments, has said they have received interest from people outside the pub trade, such as residential developers.
Paul Walton, chairman of Chiseldon Parish Council, said he was not aware that the pub was without a buyer.
“It would be a sad thing for the village,” he said. “It provides a community service.”
The property may be suitable for redevelopment subject to gaining the appropriate local authority consents.
Paramount’s managing director, Mark Greig, said there was still time for someone to save the pub.
He said: “Our hope is that this pub can be saved, although realistically if no publican or pub company steps forward to save The Elm Tree, it may cease to be a pub at all.”
The pub was originally a thatched beer house, which was constructed in 1845. It was named after the elm tree that grew on the village green until the 1970s.
Mr Walton said the pub has been used as a voting station for the village and has a ten-pin bowling alley.
Paramount Investments said it has seen an increase in sales of pubs as investors sought to maximise their returns.
Entrepreneurs, property developers and even community groups have been taking advantage of low property prices in recent months. Pubs have been converted into restaurants, shops, offices and flats.
Mr Walton said that the problem with the pub was, despite its good location, it had suffered from underuse compared to the Patriots Arms, on New Road, and had never attracted the interest of a pub chain.
“It hasn’t been used as much as it should have been,” he said.
“The problem is at the end of the day is that attractive as it is people didn’t use it perhaps as much as they could have done and because of that it is not a viable proposition.
“The pubs are suffering at the moment.”
Mr Walton said he understood the pub had had a number of owners over the last few years.
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