By Meg Jorsh

Last updated at 15:24, Monday, 05 January 2009

CUMBRIAN villagers fear they will lose the centre of their community as their only pub falls victim to the credit crisis.

Closing: The Shepherds Inn, Melmerby, has fallen victim to the generally difficult trading conditions caused by the credit crunch

The Shepherd’s Inn at Melmerby, near Penrith, has closed after just eight months under landlords Gary and Jackie Sewell. Mrs Sewell said that 2008 had been an especially difficult year.

She said: “We had the petrol crisis, then we had the bad weather in the summer and now we’ve got the credit crunch. And the business rates we were paying were between £1,400 and £1,600 a month – it’s never been re-rated since it was a really busy pub.”

She added that the rent had also been too high at first, but the brewery had since agreed to lower it. However, with only around 20 regular customers the business had become unsustainable.

“The pub is the centre of the village so yes, it will be really sad for the guys that actually use it,” she said. “Running it has been a really good experience for us – we’ve made a lot of good friends and we plan to keep in touch.”

For Melmerby resident Jason Brownlee, of Townhead Court, the pub was the best way of keeping in touch with his neighbours.

He said: “It’s something that everybody in the village is concerned about, because in the last few years we’ve had four different landlords there. If you’re not driving around all day bumping into people, it’s difficult to have that sort of casual connection.”

With British pubs closing at the record rate of five a day, more than 40,000 jobs have already been lost in the industry. Shepherd’s Inn regular Ron Richter warned that local pub closures could lead to more people drink-driving.

He added: “If you haven’t got the pub there’s no-where to meet anybody – there’s not even a shop here. People do need to go out and socialise, and they are going to start taking risks.”

MJorsh@cngroup.co.uk

First published at 11:25, Monday, 05 January 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk