It will be a shame to close the racecourse it used to be my local and whenever I come home for a visit I always made it to the pub and all the regulars, and trevor and chris would alway,s be the same just like i,d never been away it was a good time great atmosphere

While the breweries are happy to blame the smoking ban for pub closures, the rent they charge their licensees has consistently risen since the ban. The rent is supposed to be based on the amount of money a pub takes, or has the potential to take, so perhaps they could have looked after their landlords and landladies a little better with lower rents to reflect the drop in trade?

While the breweries are happy to blame the smoking ban for pub closures, the rent they charge their licensees has consistently risen since the ban. The rent is supposed to be based on the amount of money a pub takes, or has the potential to take, so perhaps they could have looked after their landlords and landladies a little better with lower rents to reflect the drop in trade?

It's a shame to see this fine old pub go, if only for the architecture - I believe it may have been designed by the Ipswich architect, Colonel Harold Ridley Hooper. However it's always been a drinker's pub, with pork scratchings and salt 'n vinegar crisps representing the extent of the culinary offerings. Thus it's inevitable that it should have suffered badly from the smoking ban, when only a mile further along the road are a couple of excellent pubs, thriving because their main business is food. The few remaining pubs outside the town centre and not doubling as restaurants have survived because they are busy music venues. With neither food nor live music to attract customers, the Racecourse had no chance. Farewell, old boozer. Take your place in history alongside the racecourse you were named for.