05 Aug 2023
A popular back street boozer is set to re-open for trading.
Community pub The Hare and Hounds in Sopwell Lane, Cottonmill, has been closed for several weeks following the departure of its most recent tenants.
Customers have told the St Albans Times they left following an unsustainable increase in their rent, but this has not been confirmed by pub company Stonegate, who own the premises.
Rumours also abounded that the Grade II listed pub, which dates back to the 17th century, was actually facing conversion into a residential property in a similar fashion to the late, lamented Blue Anchor and Black Lion in St Michael’s village.
But the St Albans Times can now confirm that Stonegate is set to re-open the establishment on August 13.
A spokesperson for Stonegate revealed: “The Hare and Hounds is currently closed whilst minor works are undertaken. A new tenant looks forward to welcoming the local community when the pub reopens on August 14.”
Whether the new tenants will once again be offering a full pub menu has not been confirmed.
This will be the third tenant to take the reins in a year, after landlord Jamie West, who ran the Hare and Hounds for more than seven years, stepped down from the business in September 2022.
He said at the time: “We know times are difficult anyway, and costs are on the rise everywhere, but despite my general optimism about the business, I have been unable to break the deadlock on a new deal for the pub, when the deal on the table was quite frankly completely unviable.
“It’s not Corona or the cost of living that got us in the end, it was a stubborn pub company desperate to claw back the costs of an embarrassingly shoddy garden refurbishment through hefty increases in our rent.”
