Save the Roebuck Inn Sixpenny Handley

Such ashame, how can people get away with this, tricking the council by running it into the ground.

We have lived in Chase Crescent now for two years, we were so happy we had a village pub when we bought the house. We then visited the pub for dinner one evening, we were the only ones who came in but it felt like you were in someones front room and that our presence was was stopping the owners from doing something else. I have a vast amount of knowledge and experience in hospitality and running pubs, restaurants and coffee shops. My opinion for what it may be worth is that the pub needs to be a lot more than just a pub!! community centre, coffee shop, meeting place and regards to food, not everyone wants to eat or can afford margret de canard (smoked duck breast), poussin and fillet steak. There is a place on a menu for a range of options to cover all tastes and budgets. If it is only so called high end food with a high end price you will scare people away just like the King John which is over priced. We would love to be part of resurrecting the pub and to help with budgets and Profit and loss accounts, but I would hope if it is to be run by the community then it would be a non profit company and all profits put back into the pub and community. I am more than happy to become part of team to help push this forward and work on the business proposals and dealing with suppliers and of course the food side.

Unfortunately it is incredibly hard to "go in" to the pub when its been closed for a year and was extremely sporadically open to my knowledge since 2016. We often went up to the pub at its opening times to find it shut. We even had a group of friends down and planned to go to the pub on a Friday night. Got their at around 7pm and it was shut. There is so much potential in this commercial property!

If all you lot that are bleating about there has to be a pub in the village have never and never will go in so leave the poor people who live there alone

If the pub is run correctly it would be an asset to the village I know a lot of people stopped going because they weren’t made to feel welcome and you never knew when it was going to be open. Local people need to use what little amenities we have left in the village or we will have nothing but houses

A village needs a pub. It’s where communities come together, and friendships are built.

This village needs a pub!

I don’t know if I’m too late to sign this, but we are hoping to move to the village and would love to see a pub come back. There are so many visitors as well, walkers from all over, it would attract people who might then spend money in other parts of the local economy. We’d volunteer there - and could help arrange bands if live music was required. Communities need to come together and a pub is ideal for that!

Small villages need focal points for local people.

save the pub now

I have lived in Sixpenny Handley for 43 years in the same house, and have known the Roebuck throughout that time. Until the Roebuck was acquired by the present owners, the Roebuck was an extremely successful business, open 7 day a week and full most days. A key feature was the variety of good food provided by the owners, which was reasonably priced but yet renowned for its excellent QUALITY. The former Prime Minister, Sir Edward Heath lived in Salisbury, and known for being a "gourmand", was a frequent visitor accompanied by his body guard. My wife and I used to eat in the Roebuck very regularly, and often more than once a week due to its conviviality and the food. The village pub was a mixing place for all, regardless of background - rich or poor, farmer or farm-worker, game keeper or poacher, woodsman or professional, shop-keeper or tradesmen, doctor or nurse, businessman or pensioner, young or old. I remember on one occasion when two life-long local adversaries came under its spell and shook hands in public ! The pub had all the old bar games like “shove-ha’penny” and darts, the daily papers used to be laid out every day on the long table by the landlord, there was a fire in winter and a piano around which we often all used to sing on Friday evenings. This was the way until the current owners bought the Roebuck. It was such a financial success that it was reflected in the premium price which the current owners paid for it. The current owners boasted that they had done their market research when they took over – in the grand metropolis of Bournemouth – and knew what people wanted. And the first thing they installed was a deep-fat fryer! Overnight the Roebuck went from serving exquisite menus like margret de canard (smoked duck breast), poussin and fillet steak slaughtered in the village butcher’s shop to a large sign outside reading “All Day Breakfast”. Hardly appropriate for a rural village pub in the heart of the Cranborne Chase, the village w

The Roebuck is in the centre of the village - a superb central hub for (some of) the people who live in and around Handley. It would be sad to lose it!!!

The village has lost so much, the pub should be sold to someone that will keep the doors open. The area is blessed with visitors both passing through and from the campsite. We no longer have hairdressers, mobile library, coffee shop and the bus service has been reduced. The pub is an asset to the community or at least should be.

The community has lost so many amenities. This pub, if run correctly could earn enough to keep going. Every community thrives on visitors and without there being a pub or a cafe, visitors have nowhere to eat so won’t bother. A pub is a great place for the community to get together during events and seasonal occasions. A village isn’t the same without a pub. Far too many buildings being turned into flats and it will end up like Blandford or Christchurch which are now over run and attract undesirables.

The Roebuck has so much potential and could be a thriving business, a fantastic community hub and a great asset to our wonderful village. Save our pub!

Villages are communities and need amenities - church, school , shop and a pub as a minimum. These are the essential units which hold a community together for the benefit of all ages.

Rural villages need to hold onto their amenities in order for communities to thrive.

This is a vital part of the community as a small village with old and young residents it's a vital part, no longer having a post office with a coffee shop our elderly have no place to go and meet restricting them to there homes, Keeping the pub open with proper management would allow for residents to meet up and in turn benifit there physical and mental health, so it's not just a pub it's a lifeline to some

We need to keep the pub a community asset without this the village will start to decline

We need to keep the pub. A community based project could show real investment in our village, such as cooking clubs, a central meeting hub and would add more worth than changing its use.