Times are tough for the industry
The Nag’s Head in Bardney has been closed since late 2024
A village pub which has gone through a rapid succession of landlords may have finally poured its last pint.
Plans have been submitted to turn the Nag’s Head in Bardney into three flats, despite hopes it could reopen as a restaurant.
The pub in Abbey Road shut in September 2024 after changing tenants three times in as many years.
The owners had been talking with another potential tenant about converting the building into a restaurant, but this has been unsuccessful, according to the planning application.
Authorities are reluctant to change the use of community buildings like pubs unless there’s evidence that they can’t survive any longer.
However, applicant Schofield Enterprises Ltd argues that the “pattern of occupation and closure” shows there’s no viable future for the pub, given the turbulent few years since the pandemic.
The last long-term tenant left in January 2022, and the next one stayed for about 18 months.
Following that, it was leased to the previous manager for another year, after which the pub shut and hasn’t reopened.
“As recently as May/June 2026, the owners have been dealing with a prospective tenant looking to run the property as a restaurant,” the documents say.
“They offered a rent-free period of three months to assist with the necessary work, and the same rent as in 2006.
“The prospective tenant felt that the kitchen was too small and the rent too high.
“The applicant’s recent experience demonstrates that the premises may attract short-term interest from prospective operators, but not sustained, viable occupation.
“The recent pattern of occupation and closure is therefore a more reliable indicator of market reality than a further formal marketing exercise, which would be likely to repeat the same cycle without securing a durable village centre use”.
Bardney still has a pub – the nearby Old Angel.
The plans have been submitted to West Lindsey District Council, and will be determined in the future.
