When is the Nelson pub at Burnham Market closing down?

Stuart Fleming, who has run the Nelson at Burnham Market for two years, is calling time on Easter Sunday.

Mr Fleming, 42, who had worked at the pub before taking on the tenancy with his partner Pauline Royal, said its owners the Stonegate Group had put his lease up from £55,000 to £87,000 in that time and also increased the price of beers, which he has to buy from them.

He said the company had refused to negotiate a reduction.

Stuart Fleming behind the bar at The Nelson in Burnham Market (Image: Chris Bishop)

"Barrels of beer are £200 and there's just no-one about," he said. "84pc of homes in Burnham Market are holiday homes and the locals can't afford to drink here for £5 - £7 a pint.

"We can go some days and not see a customer until 5pm. Last summer you could walk around here and half the lights were off.

"There is a population, the residents that you depend on and they either can't afford to go out or they sit at home and have a bottle of wine. Most people haven't got money to spend."

Leafy Burnham Market has become a second homes hotspot (Image: Chris Bishop)

The permanent population of the village has fallen from 948 at the 2001 census, to 724 by the 2021 count.

The village has seen a heated debate over the impact of second homes, which has led to locals voting for curbs on holiday properties.

Mr Fleming predicted he would take around £300 from the handful of customers he expected to come for a drink or a meal on Monday this week.

He said the pub needed to take £1,500 a day to turn a profit.

Mary Howard at The Nelson in Burnham Market (Image: Chris Bishop)

'A HORRIBLE LOSS'

One of the half dozen customers in the bar during the afternoon was retired teacher Mary Howard, 96. 

"I'm going to miss it. He's welcomed the locals so much, there are senior citizens' lunches," she said.

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Another regular, who gave his name as Ian, said: "It's going to be a horrible loss. It's the only pub around here where you can sit at the bar for a start.

"It's my favourite pub. You get the hospitality, the banter, it's how a pub should be - and I've drank in a lot of pubs, believe you me."

The Nelson at Burnham Market (Image: Chris Bishop)

Mr Fleming believes another potential tenant may be eying up the Nelson, whose owners have put up banners to advertise the vacancy.

"Someone else is coming to look at it, but they can't do anything different, it's a seasonal trade business," he said.

"We went to Spurs football stadium in London last year and had three or four pints - it was cheaper to drink in London than it is here."

£639,269 PROJECTED TURNOVER

Stonegate Group, which has more than 4,000 pubs, is advertising the Nelson on its website, offering an "introductory" rent of £1,288 a week with a projected turnover of £639,269.

A banner advertising the tenancy at the Lord Nelson in Burnham Market (Image: Chris Bishop)

It says: "The main customer trade is made up of locals to Burnham Market and the surrounding villages and towns for its food offering."

Its next operator will also need to find a £16,750 deposit and have £5,000 in working capital.

Stuart Fleming at The Nelson in Burnham Market (Image: Chris Bishop)

Mr Fleming has the Nelson's Shantymen booked for a send-off gig on Friday, March 29. He will be closing the business at 4pm on Easter Sunday.

Most of the pub's seven staff have found other jobs. Mr Fleming plans a month off before joining another hospitality business.

Stonegate has been approached for comment.

PUB'S PROUD HISTORY

A carving of Nelson at Burnham Thorpe, where he was born in 1758 (Image: Chris Bishop)

The Nelson was first recorded as a public house called ‘The Mermaid’ in 1685.

Horatio Nelson’s father, Edmund, was the rector of All Saint’s Church, which stands opposite and was present when the Mermaid was renamed in tribute as the Admiral Nelson in 1805 after the Battle of Trafalgar, at which his son was killed by a sniper as he stood on the deck of HMS Victory.

Over the next two centuries, the name changed from the Admiral Nelson, to the Admiral Lord Nelson, to the Lord Nelson.

A painting of Nelson which hangs in Blackfriars Hall, in Norwich (Image: Archive)

After a six-year spell of being re-named the Jockey after a change of ownership, the name was restored in 2011.

Its closure leaves Burnham Market with two remaining bars - the Hoste Arms and NoTwenty9.