Hundreds support campaign to reopen Bury St Edmunds community pub closed since lockdown

Hundreds of people have added their voice to a campaign to reopen a community pub which has been closed since lockdown.

The Macebearer, in Bury St Edmunds , is among 53 Greene King pubs which have remained closed amid the fallout from coronavirus - with a further 26 shut permanently.

A brewery spokesman said they ‘hope at some stage to be able to reopen it for the community’ but residents fear for its future and stressed its importance as a ‘social hub’ since 1974 where nearly £60,000 has been raised for charities over the years.

As of Wednesday morning, online and paper petitions calling on Greene King to reverse its decision and reopen the Macebearer had received 778 signatures.

Regular customer Adrian Knox, 54, said the pub, in Home Farm Lane, was a ‘support network’ for many and noted Greene King states on its website that it is ‘committed to the communities we serve’.

“We’d like to think that this includes our community, on the Nowton estate, in Greene King’s home town, less than a mile away from their headquarters,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people on the estate who haven’t got the means to go anywhere else.

“It’s taking away their opportunity to get out into the community, meet their friends, have a chat and socialise.

“It means a lot to the local shops also - they get a lot of passing trade from the Macebearer.”

He added there have been numerous testimonials by residents about how important the pub is to them.

Valerie Potter, 77, was among a group of eight or nine women who used to enjoy a weekly coffee morning at the pub.

She said: “It was great fun. It means an awful lot because we used to put a pound a week each into a fund and when it was someone’s birthday we used to have our lunch there and that came out of the fund. That’s all gone now and it’s such a shame if they close down because there’s nowhere we can meet up.”

To sign the petition online, visit www.change.org/p/greene-king-to-greene-king-do-not-shut-the-macebearer

Head to our business page for all of the latest news about businesses in Suffolk

Read more: All the latest news from Bury St Edmunds

Read more: All the latest news from Suffolk