The Crown, Knaphill
Our village pubs are a very important part of Knaphill’s fabric, but why is The Crown so special when it comes to talking about our local pubs? – Surely there are good and bad issues at Knaphill’s other watering holes that perhaps deserve a mention in the public domain!
It seems that the Crown’s previous reputation has never really gone away despite being turned around since it re-opened in February.
Before they left to run their new pub in Cornwall, Evelyn and Harry Burdett did a great job in giving the village a fresh new venue with a cosy and welcoming atmosphere and there is no reason why this can’t continue under the new management team of Ade and Sarah who took over at the end of last month.
Our recent Pub Crawl picked up on all the positives and negatives at Knaphill’s six other pubs and some of the issues we found, far surpass anything currently going on at The Crown. Pub management teams and their client base change all the time. The type of clientele though is normally an accurate indicator as to how each pub is being run.
The English pub trade has been severely under the cosh in recent years because of government tax hikes, high rents and extortionate business rates as well as arguably, the 2007 smoking ban. There has also been a change in legislation that means local councils rather than magistrates control licensing issues.
All these factors point to how the various breweries have changed their business strategies to cope with the change.
The bottom line is though, if our local pubs are not supported or not run properly, they will close. Fortunately, having visited all Knaphill’s pubs in recent weeks, all looks quite rosy for the time being. So, why not support your local and the people running it and enjoy your drink - while it lasts!
