Community bid to save the Sow

PARISH councillors have launched a bid to preserve an historic pub after a brewery said it would not be re-opening the business.

The Sow and Pigs in Church Square, Toddington, closed in July, three years after long-serving landlady Sue Jenner gave up the business.

The popular real ale pub, one of only a handful to have appeared in every edition of the Good Beer Guide published by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), was taken on by new owners, but a spokesman for Greene King said the closure last month had come about as the business was “unviable”.

They added: “Greene King is currently reviewing the future of the site but will not be re-opening it.”

Following rumours and uncertainty in the village over the future of the site, Toddington Parish Council confirmed yesterday that it had applied to English Heritage for listed building status for the pub, which stands opposite St George’s Church.

The windows are currently boarded up, and at the request of the council those at the front of the building were boarded from the inside rather than on the outside.

Council clerk Nicola Evans said: “The parish council think the building needs to be kept as it is. Off our own bats we have applied to English Heritage for listed building status, as there’s currently no protection for it.

“It was felt that it was an important part of the village. When you look at old photos of the village and of the church it is always there.”

Ms Evans said the parish council was also working with the conservation department at Central Bedfordshire Council to preserve the building for the future.

“I’ve heard so many rumours about what might happen with it that I can’t even say,” she continued. “But at the moment it’s closed and Greene King haven’t told us what’s going to happen.

“We don’t know if the building is old enough for listed building status but it’s the only thing we can do.”

Sue Jenner ran the pub with her partner Roger Martin until his death in 2005, and the pub was extremely popular for its banqueting nights.

The pub was previously the meeting place for the South Beds branch of CAMRA. Branch spokesman Mike Coombes said: “If it’s going to be closed permanently it would be very sad for the local community, who had such a good pub in their area.”