20/03/22 - Pub Archaeology at Clehonger, Herefordshire

Distance - 5 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - Pub Walks in Herefordshire - Walk 4

A first walk from this 1994 Guide Book.

Wonder if the Bell Inn is still there

Route 4 is of interest, as it details not one but two pubs. One definitely closed, one even Google/Whatpub cannot provide a comprehensive answer as to its trading status.  

The potential live one - the Seven Stars - is the start and parking point. If I have got internet based research wrong, I am trespassing on a private drive.

Open or Closed - I'll find out later

Footpaths are better preserved than our pubs - everything is present and correct 28 years later. An initial traverse of sheep grazing fields along Cage Brook, to the mighty Wye at Ruckhall. I return across increasingly waterlogged paths over Honeymoor Common and back along the brook.

The Ancient Camp is hard to pin down on the map but the guide book describes it having magnificent views over the River Wye.  Details include it being a freehouse for more than 150 years. A commitment to providing good ale, with Wood Parish Bitter and West County PA on draught.

Magnificent enough view?  I must be close.

I completed my research before hand.  A BBC news article  from 2003 talked about a locals campaign to preserve the village's only pub. 

A 2010 blogpost detailed a last gasp attempt to save it, and discussed the much maligned tactic of being denied planning permission to convert it into a house and then putting it on the market at an inflated price as a business.  It would appear that this was when the battle was lost, with the blogpost stating that CAMRA were philosophical about the outcome.

But am I in the right place at my Wye Valley lookout?  A scramble up a bank and a look over a low fence reveals the following.

Private House, Public Signage

Leaving the Seven Stars for refreshment.  12:30pm on a Sunday Lunch and worryingly, there are no additional cars in the car park.

There doesn't appear to be any lights on but the front door does open and thankfully, I am greeted by the view of a bar at the far end of a narrow corridor.  It could just have easily been a couple watching their TV.

My guide book has promises of bar food, restaurant meals, Marston Pedigree and Scorpio ale.  I'm reasonably sure there's no hot food available today and I am unsure whether I should brave the single Wye Valley handpull that's on.  In a pub with no other punters, you wonder how long it has been sitting there.  

£3.10 and OK, but not a patch on what I find in the Britannia in Hereford later in the day.

And now, I am in that uncomfortable position of sitting in an empty room, with just the bar lady and no ambient noise to break the silence.  I get up and look at the Jukebox, which she says is broken but will turn on, so I can look at what tunes are available.

First Album - Now that's what I call music 1994.  Same year as the Guide Book!

A ticking of grandfather clocks reminding me of afternoon visits to my nans.  

Thankfully, other life forms enter the bar, just as we are reaching peak awkwardness.

Harry the Pub Dog

I was able to pay for my parking and support pubs, but I cannot help but feel that it will be another house conversion the next time I come to Clehonger.

My £3.10 is hardly likely to pay for the heating, let alone wages.