Brewery confirms historic pub has shut for good after metal shutters appeared on its windows
Another pub, well known to people in the Sevenoaks area, has shut its doors for good according to the brewery that owns it.
The Cock Inn has been closed for good.
In the last couple of weeks concrete bollards have been placed around The Cock Horse in London Road on the Sevenoaks Hildenborough border and its windows have been covered by metal shutters despite the pub’s own website and the Shepherd Neame website still promoting the pub as open.
But following an enquiry from My Sevenoaks Community, the brewery’s commercial estates office confirmed ‘that the pub closed on a permanent basis on the 29 November 2019’.
The statement continued: “Unfortunately, The Cock Horse has become unviable as a tenanted public house due to increasing cost pressures and changing social habits which have led to reduced demand for beer consumption. The lack of viability means that Shepherd Neame will not be seeking to reopen The Cock Horse.”
The former coaching inn was built in 1502 and eventually became known as The Old Cock but one of the recent owners of the pub didn’t like the name and a few years ago changed it to The Cock Horse which referred to the animals that helped pull wagons and carriages up the steep hills towards Sevenoaks.
The future of The Cock Horse site remains unclear, but according to some local residents, they expect it will be demolished and eventually become housing – which is what happened to The New Cock, a rival pub located just down the road next to the Stormont garage.
Coincidentally the name of The New Cock was also changed when new landlords took over in 1983. It became the Thirst and Last but the pub was closed and then demolished in 2005 and houses built on the site.
However, both pubs also had other names in the past. According to a 19th century census The Old Cock was known as The Lower Cock, and The New Cock was The Upper Cock.
The Cock Horse’s nearest village is Weald where residents are currently taking action in an attempt to secure the future of The Windmill, the village’s last remaining pub. Read the full story by CLICKING HERE
