The fight is on at Battle of Edgehill historic pub as founder says: 'Hospitality has just been hung out to dry again'

“It gets worse every time the PM does a press conference” said the pub owner
The Castle at Edgehill is perched on the summit of Edgehill, the historic 17th-century battlefield site - but it now faces yet another battle for survival.The Castle at Edgehill is perched on the summit of Edgehill, the historic 17th-century battlefield site - but it now faces yet another battle for survival.
The Castle at Edgehill is perched on the summit of Edgehill, the historic 17th-century battlefield site - but it now faces yet another battle for survival.

The owner of an historic pub on the edge of south Warwickshire has accused the Government of hanging hospitality out to dry after losing thousands of pounds in the last week.

The Castle at Edgehill is perched on the summit of Edgehill, the historic 17th-century battlefield site - but it now faces yet another battle.

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The pub is run by Mark Higgs, who is the founder of The Freespirit Pub Company, which owns four pubs in The Midlands.

He also runs the The Sun Inn in Hook Norton; The Red Lion in Hellidon, Northants; and The Seven Stars in March Baldon, Oxford.

Mark said that, since the latest restrictions were announced around a week ago, they have lost upwards of 1,000 covers and around 40 per cent of Christmas party bookings. This equates to around £50,000 in revenue and, in his words: “It gets worse every time the PM does a press conference.”

Mark said: “It’s like hospitality has been hung out to dry again. Before they go and twist the knife in and kill businesses, effect people’s, livelihoods, mental health.

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"They should also think about the support they need to offer. There is no plan, it’s just constant knee-jerk reactions. No leadership and people have lost faith in my opinion. It’s awful leadership.

Before the latest setback, The Castle at Edgehill was about to launch a new Castle Gin School with local distiller Dan Beckett.

Mark added: "Whether we survive this depends very much on government and landlord support again, which is terrible place to be. We have a strong business, fantastic people and we will find a way, I have no doubt but we may have to reinvent ourselves again to keep cashflow coming in.

"But if landlords need full rents and there is no grants or staff furlough, we would struggle like 80 per cent of any other business. We make sales by selling food and drink and that has been taken away from us without any support whatsoever.

"Yes - public health is number one. But no support at all has been given.”