The Crowdfunding efforts
continued and enough was raised via donations
and grants to purchase the building, but despite
realistic offers from the
Parish Council, matching then
exceeding the market value assessed
by independent valuers at the
time, the owners still refused to accept
and the pub remained unused for some
time.
Then in mid 2019 a local
couple bought the pub. Yarcombe
Voices reported, "Their vision is to see the
pub restored to the glory of its former days,
their wish is to give the village back its
heart". But despite hiring
excellent staff, the best ever seen here
according to some, the pub floundered
once again and was closed before a year had
passed. COVID, several months
into its evil spell, was partly responsible.
The owners, via e-Voices
(a local email service) announced in July 2020,
"We have instructed a
commercial agent who specialises in public
houses. Their advice is to market the pub ‘To
Let’ and to also include the opportunity to take
the freehold, as it is not uncommon for a tenant
to require the option to buy after a couple of
years in their lease."
In the very next edition of Yarcombe Voices
(our village publication which had a
deadline for articles of 15th July) the Parish Council Chairman
wrote "Following the message in e-Voices on
3rd July that a new tenant landlord was being
sought to take over The Yarcombe Inn, we now
learn it has been placed on the market with a
selling agent. It is hoped that a buyer will
soon be found and that The Yarcombe Inn will be
reopened in the near future. The Parish Council
discussed this development along with the
current ACV (Asset of Community Value) and have
decided to apply to East Devon District Council
to have this listing extended. The primary
purpose of this action is to protect the
property for the community and ensure that it
remains a public house."
The extension to the ACV was
granted by EDDC and remains active until
September 2025. In the meantime the owners sold
the building to
financial investors.
As the COVID crisis slowly
eased, the investor-owners found tenants who tried
hard between mid 2021 and mid 2022, but this was
their first attempt at running a public house
and, following a hefty rent increase, they declined to continue at the end of
their one year lease.
The outcome and current
situation as of November 2023 is that the inn is
still believed to be owned by financial investor(s) with tenants attempting to
open for business since November 2022. A May 2023
opening date was originally announced but problems,
initially with the electricity
supply, then with phone and internet
connections, have adversely affected progress,
causing a slippage which seems to have occurred
for all recent tenants just as the vital summer
trade begins. A recent statement
suggested that everything that could go wrong
has, although full details are hard to obtain.
Just as the delays seemed to
be nearing their end it was announced that
cellar relocation was to be scheduled
and that this work would rule out an opening date
in the month of August.
Relocation of the cellar was
reported to have been completed around
24th August, so we eagerly await the
announcement of an opening date!
However in response, it has been stated:
"We are in no hurry now as the summer season is
pretty much over."
Also a Facebook post dated 26th August detailed
further ongoing and future work on interior
painting, exterior plants, the kitchen and
recruitment.
In mid-September various
villagers reported that they'd heard a chef was
about to take up residence and that the pub will
be opening "in a few weeks", presumably ruling
out a September opening date.
Further time elapses and by
early November 2023 an opening date had still
not been announced. Villagers, many
of whom were involved in the running of the pub
as a Community Inn and have at least some
knowledge of these matters are puzzled about the
lack of progress and financial viability but can
only wait and hope there are no further
problems.
Check here for
further updates. |