A couple who took the helm of a pub by accident when they found themselves in charge of it in the middle of a housing crisis are saying goodbye to the life they’ve built over the last few years – it hasn’t been without its problems.
Andy and Bobbie Lord, whose youngest child Robin was even born next to a pool table in 2023, broke the news last month that their “crazy journey” was coming to an end. This journey began when an expectant couple and their three children were trying to find a place to rent in 2022.
With little other option, the soon-to-be family of six accepted an offer to move into a flat above The Waggoner’s Arms in Camborne. They soon began working shifts behind the bar and soon took over the business from the previous owners, but have since faced their ups and downs – including muggings and drug problems that plagued the pub.
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“I didn’t think much of it at the time. I never realized at the time that it would lead to us running the pub,” they said of the move at the time. “I had hoped to find more suitable family accommodation away from the pub and we accepted that once Bobbie she gives birth and if the landlady who was resigning at the time left, then we would leave too and face emergency accommodation if we had to.
“Our baby boy Robin was born in the pub’s birthing pool in January 2023, which we will never forget and it’s the best time we’ve had here. There’s been a lot of talk about us taking over the pub.”
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They didn’t stipulate that a takeover was the plan, saying, “We decided to give it a shot and we had some great times. We learned as we went along, made a lot of mistakes, got a few things.” rightly and truly we gave it our best, considering that the preservation of our home was conditional.”
In recent months, however, they have secured suitable alternative accommodation elsewhere and want to leave the “stressful parts” of running the pub behind. But they say it wasn’t easy because of all the joys that came with it. However, the problems with drugs, violence and the pub’s reputation have not made the operation of this business any easier recently.
“During the first few months it was really difficult and stressful, seeing, hearing and dealing with behavior that I wasn’t fully aware was fueled by illegal drugs,” a message posted on the pub’s Facebook page said, “It’s a lot they learned I soon decided that this had to change drastically or we would have to leave.
“Then came the night I was attacked by a regular who had already broken my cue and proceeded to break the window. At that point we had had enough and had to either try to change it or leave.”
“We’ve joined Pub Watch, we’ve tackled a lot more anti-social behaviour, we’ve banned a lot of people and we’ve done our best to keep trouble at bay and make the pub a warm, friendly and safe place to visit and I believe , that we got a really good range of it.” More on how they handled it in a previous story here.
But they said the last straw was an incident a few months ago that affected customers and staff and almost led them to walk out. “We held out, but the pub has been very quiet since that incident.
“Our overhead costs are high and for the first time, even though we laid off staff, we could no longer afford to pay and do all the opening hours ourselves, we just don’t have the money to pay some of the big bills. I’ve always said if and when that starts happening, we won’t have no choice but to leave.”
They went on to say that they wish all customers the best as they move forward with the next chapter of their lives. The closing party was held earlier this month.
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