New look planned for The Macebearer in Bury St Edmunds as search continues for new tenant

A Bury St Edmunds community pub could be given a fresh look as the search continues for a new tenant.

Greene King has submitted plans for The Macebearer, in Home Farm Lane, for advertisement consent for new signage.

The proposals to West Suffolk Council include an illuminated pictorial sign of a macebearer to an existing post, two non illuminated amenity boards, one illuminated post mounted double sided sign, two illuminated sets of letters, two non illuminated vinyl signs and one non illuminated display sign.

The brewery is still seeking a new tenant for the pub after landlord Sean Driscoll decided not to renew his tenancy which he had held since June 2021.

He reopened The Macebearer which had been shut following the first lockdown.

At the time, the community launched a campaign to ensure it reopened with hundreds signing a petition.

Mr Driscoll told SuffolkNews he decided not to continue on commercial grounds.

A spokesperson for Greene King said: “We have submitted plans as we want to invest in The Macebearer for all the local community to enjoy and we would like to hear from people interested in running this pub and being a key part of its next chapter.”

The Macebearer has been a social hub for the community since 1974 and was named by resident Shirley Pattle through a competition in the Bury Free Press.

She picked the name to commemorate the merger of what was then West and East Suffolk authorities, which saw Bury lose its status as a county town but also its macebearer.

In 2014, Mrs Pattle, who was invited to a party to celebrate the pub’s 40th anniversary, said she came up with it after noticing several roads on the Nowton estate were named after former mayors and thought the macebearer should be acknowledged.