Legendary Bucks pub announces closure

The boss of an historic pub in High Wycombe said he is “heartbroken” at its closure but plans to drink the bar dry in a final huge blowout.

The White Horse pub has long stood proudly in West Wycombe Road and is known for hosting Kings of Leon’s first UK gig in 2003, as well as a string of other huge names including Coldplay, Snow Patrol and Seventies punk band, The Damned.

More recently, plans had been put forward to bulldoze the historic pub and strip club to build eight two-bedroom flats. The proposal was refused by Buckinghamshire Council due to the proposed development being “out of character” with the surrounding area.

But the pub, which is over 100 years old, has announced it will still shut its doors for good despite the decision – although not before a Christmas Party on December 22 and final blowout on December 30.

The White Horse’s long-term licensee Alastair Watts said: “It’s heartbreaking. I am very sad. It is 20 years of my life, but the wheel of time turns on.”

However, the 78-year-old, who has worked at the pub since 2001, is planning to go out with a bang on December 30 and drink his way through the pub’s remaining stock with the pub’s loyal regulars.

“The idea is to drink everything in the pub,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service as he recalled some of his favourite memories from his two decades pulling pints there.

Alastair, who grew up in Brighton, admitted he did not remember Kings of Leon’s five-song set at the White Horse in February 2003, the Nashville rock band’s first UK gig.

“I can’t remember it,” he said, “there were endless bands, Coldplay started here as well and Snow Patrol.”

The pub worker added: “One of my predecessors had a been a roadie for The Who and he had all the contacts. Once he left in 2004, we lost the contacts.”

Alastair, who ran a strippergram agency in the 1980s, explained how bands playing the White Horse in the days before the smoking ban shared the space with the strippers.

He said: “In those days the first floor had a changing room for the bands and dancers and so on. [Kings of Leon] did enjoy changing in the rooms the dancers had just vacated.”

However, the exotic dancers were a surprise to some of the working men passing through Wycombe in those days. Alastair explained: “We used to have a lot of tradesmen who stayed in the area on the Wednesday evening.

“They would be drinking in the bar, a girl in lingerie would walk past and they would choke on their pints.”

Despite the White Horse’s rich musical history, Alastair says that live music is not enough to sustain the pub.

He said: “It’s got a lot harder with bands. Running a pub is desperately hard work these days. The industry is on its knees. I don’t miss paying the energy bills.”

He added: “It’s been really good fun. The laughter is beyond value.”

Visit the White Horse’s Facebook page for more information on its Christmas Party: www.facebook.com/thewhitehorsewycombe