I visited a once-thriving pub now facing demolition - and I couldn't help feeling sad
A once-thriving village pub and restaurant near Stafford - which attracted diners from as far afield as Birmingham - has been hit hard in recent years by the Covid pandemic and rising cost of living, serving just four customers on the evening I went in for a quick drink after work.
Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Last month members of Stafford Borough Council granted planning permission to demolish the Shropshire Inn on the outskirts of Haughton and build two bungalows on the site after being told that on some week nights just five or six customers called in.
The last time I visited the venue was in the more prosperous times of 2017, when the venue had been awarded its third consecutive AA Rosette for culinary excellence. On that occasion I went to the restaurant during the day and remember it being a light-filled area with a buzz about it.
It specialised in traditional English food, with dishes made from scratch on site, including sauces. And as well as the AA Rosettes it had picked up numerous accolades in the annual Taste of Staffordshire Awards.
But the past seven years have not been kind to the hospitality industry, with pubs and restaurants across the country battling to stay afloat in a sea of rising costs and falling customer numbers. The many weeks of enforced closure during 2020, as part of national lockdown measures put in place to control the spread of coronavirus, also had a devastating effect on venues that relied on social gatherings and people venturing out of their homes for a drink or a meal.
