So far as Ind Coope are concerned, the Kings Arms, in Church Street, Rickmansworth, is dead. But outraged locals are still fighting to keep their pub open.

Over 300 of them are sending a petition to the giant Allied Breweries, who control Ind Coope, deploring the decision to close the pub on April 24.

“What they are trying to do is get three large hyper-pubs in Rickmansworth and force out the smaller ones,” said Mr Jim Sheridan, 31, who organised the petition. “The Kings Arms, thankfully, has kept its village pub character over the years and is where one can have a quiet game of darts without the constant blare of the jukebox or the crack of pool tables attributed to so many pubs these days.”

Ind Coope regard the pub as lacking space and amenities, and decided to spend their money rejuvenating The Feathers, also in Church Street.

The tenant at the Kings Arms is Mrs Gladys Burridge, who has been at the pub for over 30 years. She now hopes to retire and live in a council flat.

The Burridge family are well established publicans in the area. Her grandfather owned the Coach and Horses at Croxley Green.

“I think they are messing up the old town completely, doing this sort of thing,” Mrs Burridge said this week. “But the kids don’t care about it. The more noise, the better they like it.”

One regular, 63-year-old, Mr Fred Gawron, of Canterbury Way, Croxley Green, thought Allied Breweries had closed down all the decent old pubs in Rickmansworth.

“I don’t like any other pub, this is the only place for me,” he said.

It is not known yet what plans Ind Coope have for the pub. They cannot demolish because it is a protected building.

[From the Watford Observer of April 8, 1977]

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