Crumpled Horn pub in Swindon lies closed down and boarded up

Members of the public have labelled the move to secure the Crumpled Horn building based in Eldene in such a way as 'very sad'. 

It follows a licensing meeting held by Swindon Borough Council to determine its future an whether or not it would be allowed to open. 

In that meeting, the local authority's licensing committee decided to let the pub retain its premises licence, despite a request from Wiltshire Police to shut it down because of the amount of criminal activity taking place there. 

But the three-councillor panel decided to remove landlady Jane Jeapes from the position of designated premises supervisor for what it says was her failure to control the pub.

The Crumpled Horn pub has been boarded up, with one passer-by describing the scene as 'very sad'. (Image: Dave Cox)

After the ruling, the pub's owner Admiral Taverns accepted the panel's decision and resolved to make the local boozer the pub 'we all want it to be."

But now the Grade-II listed building has been boarded up with ugly metal sheeting. 

Local Steven Blanchard was upset at what he saw.

"Very sad to walk past The Crumpled Horn pub at Eldene the other day and find it closed off on all its windows and doors with metal sheeting," he said. 

"This pub has been at Eldene for nearly 50 years. It’s time the building was redeveloped inside and turned into something else.

"How about some kind of a kiddies soft play centre or Chinese buffet facility the possibilities must be endless? Far better than it laying unused and decaying."

The Crumpled Horn pub is looking in quite a state with the Grade-II listed building getting boarded up with metal sheeting (Image: Newsquest)

On March 14, Wiltshire Police issued the venue with a court-ordered closure, forcing it to close for six weeks because of the amount of illegal activity that was taking place there. 

This came after an incident on March 10, when a group of men entered the building wielding machetes.

At the council meeting constables Rebecca Berni and John Barker presented evidence from the police alleging the pub had long been a focus for gang-related activity, in particular drug dealing.

The police had previously said: “The Crumpled Horn has been allowed by the persons who run it to become a hub of criminal activity. It poses a serious risk to members of the community.”

The pub, off Dorcan Way, was given a Grade II heritage listing, in 2018.

Designed around the theme of the nursery rhyme This is the House that Jack Built, the pub opened in 1975. Roy Wilson-Smith, the pub’s architect, was an advocate of themed pubs.