By Jacqueline Elmore 

The growing trend of pubs being sold to property developers and turned into houses, flats or shops has been on the rise for years. More than 150 pubs shut for good in England and Wales in the first quarter of 2023 with a heavy portion of them being snapped up by developers the minute they went on the market. 

We only have to look at the Ship Inn on Whitemans Green to see how that turned out; once a traditional family owned pub that closed its doors in 2014 and was then converted into a Co-op store. 

There are now only four public houses in Cuckfield, all important in their own unique way and each one of them catering to a different audience. 

Over the years, I have interviewed a number of publicans in and around the area; some new to the business and some who have been at it for years. 

In early 2019, I spoke to pub keeper Jim Ayling, who at the time, with his partner, Jackie had skillfully served the community as landlord of The White Harte in Cuckfield for almost two decades, before brewery Hall and Woodhouse sold it to an independent party. 

Last month, I finally got to sit down with the pubs’ new owner, Kevin Smith to find out how he, a retired helicopter engineer found himself in possession of a 15th century coaching inn and how, with the help of Bar Manager, Jordan Johnson have managed to turn the local drinking den into something of a destination pub. 

Kevin explains: “It must have been around Christmas time, about ten years ago when my friends and I got chatting to some of the locals who were talking about how the pub was going up for sale, and the person that wanted to buy it was a property developer who was planning to turn it into houses. Well that didn’t really sit right with us, given the pubs long-standing history, and its place in the community so my friend and I put in an offer in the hope that we could purchase it before it was sold for good.” 

The developers ended up pulling out of the sale leaving Jim and Jackie to hang on to the pub for a few more years. 

“Once the sale had fallen through, we asked the brewery that if ever they decided to sell the pub again that they come back to us to let us know. And that was exactly what happened. One day I got a call out of the blue from Hall and Woodhouse asking if we were still interested in buying the pub.” 

[This is an excerpt from the full article, published in the August 2023 issue of Cuckfield Life]