Pandemic forces closure of English pub open for more than 1,000 years

An English pub that says it’s been operating since 793 A.D. is closing its doors.

Christo Tofalli, landlord of Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St. Albans, north of London, posted on the pub’s Facebook page that he and his team have tried “everything to keep the pub going” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“However, the past two years have been unprecedented for the hospitality industry, and have defeated all of us who have been trying our hardest to ensure this multi-award-winning pub could continue trading into the future,” he added.

Tofalli said that “conditions were tough” for the pub with “escalating business rates and taxations” even before the pandemic, which he called “devastating,” saying, “already tight profit margins gave us no safety net.”

However, Mitchells & Butlers, which owns the pub, is hoping to reopen the establishment in the future, it told the BBC.

Sky News reported in January that almost 10,000 licensed U.K. premises — including pubs, clubs and restaurants — closed permanently last year.

2021 saw a 175 percent rise in total closures when compared with 2019, the report added.