One thing is clear, The Fitzharris Arms has been already sold to Tesco, who plan to turn it into a Supermarket. The Herald had the ‘Fury over Pub Sale to Tesco‘ story this morning.
The Fitz was built in 1952 along with the surrounding houses. So it serves a large area with no other nearby pubs. Local people – many of them elderly – depend on their local pub for their social lives. A social group of elderly residents meets every two weeks at the Fitz, and their Christmas Party was planned for the day the pub is to close.
Also worth noting is that Tesco own the One Stop supermarket just down the Wootton Road. So are they planning to have two shops so close together? They did buy the Fox and Hounds pub on the Abingdon Road in Oxford and it has remained derelict since 2007.
A For Sale sign has also appeared over another Greene King pub in the town centre: The Plough.
The Plough re-opened in July after being closed from the start of the year.
Those two pubs may be just the start. There are rumours of other Greene King pubs being sold off.
(Greene King got a majority stake in the Abingdon based Morland Brewery, and all it’s pubs, in 1999. )
The original mistake was made by the councillors who gave planning permission for Tescos to open the Marcham Road store. Now they’re established they’ve decided to suck all other commercial life out of anywhere they feel their dead hand doesn’t have a sufficiant stranglehold on the Abingdon market, as that is what Abingdon is to Tesco … a market to be exploited and they have no interest in the town as a community.
As much as you’d like initiatives like Choose Abingdon to succeed it’s a case of closing the stable door due to the lack of forethought by those ‘planning’ for the Town’s future … the forerunners of the numpties who nodded through the new waste collection scheme. Lazy non-thinkers.
problem is, people are hypocrites. if everyone who said it’s a shame about big stores moving in did their weekly shop in local shops there would be no problem.
unfortunately the complainers are all too happy to go to tesco.
if nobody went it would soon have to close
What a shame! I spent many happy evenings in the Fitz. For me Abingdon died a little when Morlands was sold and the Warwick Arms closed (remember that?), that’s when I made the decision to leave for good. Is Abingdon doomed to be a Tesco town, faceless dormitory owned by megacorp?
I think the original mistake was not letting the railway go through the town, or maybe closing the monastery, maybe the Saxons should have built it on Boars Hill… Are there enough people in Abingdon to make it a town, a thriving community in the face of town planners. Critical mass.
it is terribly sad to see yet another pub closing in Abingdon. I think in part this is because the pubs have not kept up with the times or are attractive places to go. Peoples tastes have changed, and pubs have to compete hard for business now. Unless you are in your 20/30s, poor beer and microwaved food just does not cut it now. I would not go to a GK pub because the beer is so awful, I used to enjoy a nice pint of Morlands. What gives me hope is the revival of small independent breweries who are thriving. It is a pity they cam compete with the likes of Tesco.
So the message is, as ever, loud and clear with regards to your independents: use them or lose them.
Its very sad to hear about the Fitz. I used to drink in there myself before I moved out of Abingdon, I used to play in their darts team. A large part of the town died when Greene King closed the brewery. The town, in my eyes, will never be the same again.
The only saving grace is that there are quite a few pubs in the town concentrating on locally sourced Real Ale and not bowing down to Greene King and their horrible IPA.
All towns should have their own brewery.
Welcome to Loose Cannon!
Backstreeter, I recommend a visit – they are sure to show you around. Just save some beer for me!
I remember the Warwick, Old Ghost – that’s a few years now (more than I care to remember!), after it closed I started drinking in Oxford as there was nowhere else that I really felt comfortable in Abingdon.
Yes, Tesco has become a monster…but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I cannot afford to buy my week’s grocery shop in central Abingdon – in actual fact, where can I do that? Neither Co-op or Waitrose carry the variety I need – members of my family have special dietary needs – and they are both more expensive.
In addition to the cost of shopping in town I would have to factor in the car parking cost, and the additional complexity of transporting my 18 month old to the shop and then transporting him and my week’s shop back to the car.
That leaves me with the only other supermarket in town – Waitrose – which I simply cannot afford.
So, as much as I dislike what Tesco has done to Abingdon – and indeed to many other towns all over the country – right now I, personally, could not do without it.
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be !
Critical mass ? When Abingdon’s population was half its current size, the density of pubs per sq mile was amongst the highest in the land. Pubs only stay open if they can attract business against the mind-numbing likes of X-factor and corrie. They said the end had come when MG closed – look at the commercial activity now. (I reckon the rot set in when the station closed).
Three cheers for niche market Micro-breweries.
Most pubs in Abingdon died along with the brewery really. Greene King also took Morrels, Hardy and Hansons, Belhaven, Ridleys and with Morland they aquired the Ruddles name, which Morland bought and shut a couple of years before. As they don’t put that on the pump I expect there are plenty of people trying to avoid drinking their beer but are still driking beer brewer by the same company. As with most companies they don’t worry about the community, just if the pub makes money. Personally I say get in the Kings Head and Bell, they have Adnams, Fullers and of course Abingdon’s own Loose Cannon occasionally.
I agree with Steve. The Kings Head and Bell is a cracking pub these days. Long gone is the terrible reputation it had in the 90’s when the front bar was full of violent nutters. What they have done with it is incredible. The decor is wonderful. The Ale is also pretty good as well.
I also agree with Millihelen. Take a trip to Loose Cannon. Will if a lovely bloke and I’m sure he would be happy to show you around.
I meant to ask. Does anyone now when the closing night of the Fitz is? I will do my best to make down for that
Much as I hate to defend the then Conservative run Vale, weren’t the planning rules much looser when all the out of toen supermarkets were being built in the seveties and eighties than they are now? The Vale was able to stop Tescos expanding further a couple of years ago, and to stop the proposed ALDI on the Fairacres site.
Sadly the pub trade is in steady decline, for a whole host of reasons, mainly to do with changing family life and the availability of cheaper booze in the shops.
There are some cracking pubs in town though. As others have said the Kings Head and Bell is now excellent, as is the Old Anchor. And yes, do go and buy some beer from the Loose Cannon Brewery. They are very friedndly and it is good value too.
Years ago we all laughed when that Tescos opened and my Gran said ‘Tescos are taking over the world’. She wasn’t far wrong……..
it’s not as if abingdon is over-run by big supermarkets – no sainsburys, no asda, no morrisons – do people really want us to be a town with no supermarket whatsoever?
tccc – I have no problem with the existence of supermarkets, but the expansion of edge of town and out of town shopping during the seventies and eighties clearly had a detrimental effect on town centres in general and independent retailers in particular. Since then the degree of market domination that the big supermarket chains (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA etc.) have built up has enabled them to dominate the market so much that they have a huge advantage over smaller businesses. The result of this is that small towns like Abingdon that used to have several greengrocers, butchers, etc. have few or none.
Add to the list Nags Head.
http://www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/hsabingdonnews/8736678.Historic_pub_to_call_time_on_drinkers/
Going to be gutted and boarded up???!!!.
It is a shame that another pub in town is closing, but tescos would be bringing in more jobs, which is a good thing? Everyone uses supermarkets- times are changing/have changed. Many people nowadays don’t really want to traipse around from one shop to the next, getting bread from the bread shop, meat from the butcher etc- especially when the weather is bad. Having one place to buy most essentials is very convenient.
What Abingdon needs are some quality shops. Witney and Didcot seem to get it right. Or- they need to offer something different, encourage more independent smaller shops into town, like on stert street. If anyone has been to The Lanes in Brighton, it would be fab to have lots of interesting and eclectic mix of independent shops and boutiques that offer something different to the main high street shops.
Tescos and the like can only offer so much- if you want something different, handmade or looking for pretty gifts, that is where they can’t compete.
I think the Plough and Nags Head don’t have customer parking, which couldn’t have helped.
I know the Salters Steamers moor on Nags Head Island during the spring & summer, couldn’t they do something with the buildings?? instead of gutting and boarding up)
With the Old Gaol building site and a boarded up Nags Head on the bridge, will people avoid that part of Abingdon??.
I’ve heard the Ox is going as well?
‘With the Old Gaol building site and a boarded up Nags Head on the bridge, will people avoid that part of Abingdon??.’
Thats a fair point. It will look horrible to tourists all these boarded up buildings!!!
Yes, The Ox is going as well: some of the passengers told me this in my taxi, well over a week ago
Those pubs with decent prospects are ramping-up their prices … £3.40 for a pint of Old Hooky in my local. I can buy a pint of that in Tesco for £1.64. I’m willing to pay for ‘ambience’, but how much is reasonable?
I had lunch at The Turf in Oxford on Friday and a knockout pint of Turf/White Horse Summer Ale for £2.95. I’m not saying that this is a bargain price, but, in a relative sense, it’s a snip. I don’t think any of their beers were more than £3.10. If you really want to drink get the X3/X13 into Oxford as the beer is a lot cheaper, though Stocks is holding out for common-sense pricing.
As a newcomer I’ve got to say that The Nag’s Head had a really unattractive reputation when I got here (four years ago). Perhaps its usfulness might be as a venue for keeping the unsavoury out of the Town Centre … though I’m sure that there are some perfectly decent people who drink there.
In decades to come this blog will be an academic reference for students studying the terminal decline of the ‘social cohesion’ of a small English town. These students will pick up their degrees from The University of Tesco.
Game, Set, Match
Fantastic blog.Thanks Again. Awesome.