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The Yarcombe Inn |
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Latest News:
The Yarcombe Inn is set to reopen late June /
early July 2023
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ASSET OF
COMMUNITY VALUE CLASSIFICATION
The Parish Council's application for the pub to
be classified as an Asset of Community Value
(ACV) has been approved and the ACV now remains
active until 2025.
CURRENT
OWNERS
The pub is currently owned by Eagleyed Ltd, a
company with no apparent internet presence, run
by Martin Bayntun.
Blue Alpine
have also advertised - both companies have
addresses in Pinner.
SLS Properties
in South London and Guy Simmonds (Facebook) have
also acted as agents.
A BRIEF
HISTORY OF THE YARCOMBE INN
Your attention should be drawn to the historic
significance of The Yarcombe Inn within this
community and indeed nationally.
Since the time of the listing of The Yarcombe
Inn (formerly known as The Angel Inn), much
archeological research has taken place.
Mrs Ruth Everitt, historian and author of the
book From Monks to The Millennium, spent many
years after the publication of her book
continuing her research into the history of the
Parish of Yarcombe. It was clear
from ancient documents both in the public domain
and in private ownership that The Yarcombe Inn
was in use some 900 years ago as a Church House
providing succour for wayfarers, a tradition
that has continued to this day.
Sadly Mrs Everitt is no longer alive to provide
the precise details of this research; however,
she found conclusive evidence that this Church
House provided shelter in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries for the many pilgrims who
came to visit and pray at the monastic house of
St Michael Hall that stood near the river Yarty,
before travelling to Newnham Abbey, Glastonbury,
Salisbury, Winchester, Chichester and finally to
their destination at Canterbury.
During internal building repairs to The Yarcombe
Inn in the mid-1990s The Yarcombe Horse was
discovered. This important corbel made of Ham
Hill stone is of a horse wearing a halter made
from twisted rope. It is very rare
evidence for the style of horse equipment used
in Devon during the Norman period and is one of
the earliest depictions in stone within the
British Isles of a horse wearing a rope halter.
It is thought that it has its origins either in
the church previous to the present medieval
Church of St John the Baptist, or is from St
Michael Hall. The sculpture resides
at present in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum,
Exeter.
Our historic buildings, be they stately or
vernacular, are an integral part of our national
identity. Certainly much of the
fabric of The Yarcombe Inn is perhaps no more
than four hundred years old but there are parts
of it which together with its history make it a
building of significant historical interest and
importance, not just within the Parish of
Yarcombe and the County of Devon but nationally
as well.
RECENT HISTORY
2000s
/ 2010s |
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In late October
2009 after a closure of several
years, the Yarcombe Inn became
Community-run following an appearance in
an episode of Jay Smith's TV
programme "Save Our Boozer"
broadcast on Channel Dave.
A lease agreement was reached with the
owners and forty or so volunteers from the
village and surrounding areas
donated their time and energy to reopening
and running the pub.
Food was initially provided by
volunteers but later, paid catering staff were
hired, raising the standard to the
point where the pub was deservedly ranked
number one in the Honiton area on Trip
Advisor. |
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Above:
The Yarcombe Inn during the
Community-run period, 2012.
Below:
Interior snaps |
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Below:
Volunteers and guests celebrate at the Community
Inn's 3rd birthday party in 2013. |
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The pub
remained Community-run until mid
2013 when the then chef took on the
lease,
but in August 2014 the pub sadly closed once
again. Shortly
afterwards, villagers prepared an
application for an Asset of
Community Value for the building,
gathered the requisite number of
signatures and passed it to the
Parish Council.In
mid 2015 hopes were raised when new
owners vowed to open and bring the
pub back to life, but they very
quickly, too quickly some would say,
backtracked and applied to convert
the building into a residence.
The Parish Council then belatedly
sent the ACV application to EDDC and
the villagers submitted enough
objections to thwart the change of
status. The ACV was
granted by EDDC and remained in
place until its expiry in 2020.
During this time negotiations with
the owners failed to reach an
agreement regarding the future of
the pub which remained closed once
more. However in July 2017 the Parish Council
teamed up with villagers to
formulate a business plan and to raise
enough money through Crowdfunder donations and
grants to purchase the building.
A special July 2017 issue of the village
magazine containing plans, relevant
facts and history of the Inn is
archived on the
Yarcombe Voices page.
Click here to access the
Yarcombe Voices
Archive folder
Social media was
also used to good
effect, below are some of the Facebook and Twitter postings used in 2017. |
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Above:
Some of the advertising used to encourage
donations to the Save The Yarcombe Inn
campaign.
Left: Volunteers outside the
Save
The Yarcombe Inn tent at the Yarcombe
Terrier Racing event, 2017. |
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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 or
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 at June 2023 is that the inn is
still believed to be owned by financial investor(s)
with potential tenants presently attempting to
open for business. Unfortunately it
seems unheard-of problems with the electricity
supply have had an adverse affect on the opening
date, a slippage which seems to have occurred
for all recent tenants just as the vital summer
trade begins. |
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Left:
In December 2012 during the Community-run
period, Primrose Baker (nee Sweetland)
returns to the Yarcombe Inn where she and her
sister Pam were born.
Click
to read full article |
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1980s: |
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The Inn in the early 1980s |
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1970s: |
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An aerial snap of The Inn
taken in 1975 |
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1960s: |
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Thanks to Sue Barrass from Great
Yarmouth for this 1960 postcard
(above & left).
Reg Bullett was landlord between
1960 and 1969 at which time the
pub was owned by Brutton
Mitchell Toms, a Yeovil based
brewery late taken over by Bass
Charrington who had a Chard
Depot. Reg Bullett
was responsible for renovations,
perhaps the fireplace in the old
inglenook.
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1950s: |
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Thanks to Mandy
Field from Bedford who came across these as she
was sorting through her parents' photographs.
She believed they may have visited back in
the 1950s. |
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1930s: |
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Circa 1935:
Left: Local
farmers queue at the Yarcombe Inn to
pay their land rent.

Above: Shirley Briant's grandfather.

Above:
Gladys, Rita & George's father Sid
Pidgeon. |
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A photograph
(left) apparently taken shortly after the one
above. |
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Postcards, believed to be from
the mid 1930s |
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Two shots of
the Inn, believed to have been
taken in the 1930s. |
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Left: The
Yarcombe Inn, or "Inne" depending on
which sign you read! Year
unknown but in the days when
accommodation was offered. |
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A postcard letter from a time similar to
the above. The pencil sketch is very
finely carried out. The writing is in
blue pen, with a side note “written in
car!" The message reads:
Dear Keith,
You should try this pub sometime, the
food is terrific and our host is full of
the joys of spring i.e. Beer and poker
dice, lots of cider. We were
up with him till 2am and got as sloshed
as billie goats. We are now on the way
to Exeter.
Lots of love from us both,
Tom and Sue |
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The Yarcombe Inn tariff at the time of
"Tom and Sue's" stay (above) |
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1910s: |
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Taken outside the Yarcombe Inn during WWI. |
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The
Yarcombe Inn in 1915 |
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1900s: |
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The
Yarcombe Inn in or before 1904. |
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Probably the earliest picture of the Yarcombe Inn, judging by the
quality! |
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Taken in front of The Yarcombe Inn circa
1900. Not a hatless head in
sight!
Standing, Top: Fred Palmer & Tom Gready
Sitting
Left to Right: William Clarke, Sidney
Clarke, John Palmer
Standing: Tom
Goodland, Mr Matthews, Robert Gready (Woodhayne), _, _, Mr Clarke (Newcott),
R Wyatt (Hillhouse), Sam Phillips, John
Matthews(?), Tom Spiller (Livehayne), _,
_, Mr Edwards, Sam Wyatt (Pithayne),
John Bright (Stockland).
Steve Horner remarks:
Robert Gready (born 1846 and died in
Buckland St Mary, 1926) was a tenant at
Woodhayne from 1870 to 1926.
Tom Gready his son, standing at the back
(r), was born in Yarcombe in 1876.
Robert's nephew Dennis (Dan) Gready took
over from 1926 to 1933. |
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