'Immense sadness' as Northamptonshire village pub temporarily closes as costs continue to soar

A popular village pub has closed its doors for three weeks due to spiralling costs which is making it unaffordable to remain open.

The Old Kings Head in Long Buckby closeds its doors to punters on July 2 to allow time to see if there is a way forward to keep the village pub running.

An announcement on the Facebook page said: “It is with immense sadness that we have to announce our *hopefully* temporary closure after quiz this Sunday the 2nd of July.

“Sadly due to the spiralling prices of everything we have taken the very tough decision that we can no longer afford to keep our doors open.

“We are closing for 2-3 weeks to regroup and try to find a way forward if at all possible.

“We would like to thank every single member of our wonderful team for everything that they have done with and for us to move the pub forward and make it work, but mostly we would like to thank them all for being part of our family, please be gentle with them.

“We have met some amazing people whilst we have been here and are lucky enough to call some of them our friends . The whole team and we would like to thank each and everyone of you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting us all and making our jobs such fun

“Thank you all for everything, hopefully we will be back soon."

The pub, in Harbidges Lane, is described on its Facebook page as ‘an award winning, stunning pub located in the village of Long Buckby’.

Customers reacted in shock and sadness to the news.

One said: “I really hope you can find a way to reopen. It would be sad to lose such a lovely, friendly and welcoming pub.”

Another said: “Oh I’m so very sad. I was just telling someone yesterday what a lovely pub you have and how I took my whole family for Sunday lunch there a few weeks ago and enjoyed it enormously. Please, please come back soon. Energy prices are falling from today you know. That should help. It’s the saddest news.”

The Badgers Arms in High Street Long Buckby also closed its doors on Saturday (July 8) with the owners saying they refused to renew the tenancy with the landord.

The quirky pub won CAMRA’s Local Branch Pub of the Year 2022 and Regional Cider Pub of the Year in 2019 and finalist in the national awards.