Whilst the White Hart is not in my Ward, it is a building that holds important memories for me. It was the first pub I went in to when I moved to Calne in 2014. I was made very welcome, its where I met my partner, many friends and where we held the celebration dinner for my parents 60th wedding anniversary in 2016. It was sad day when the pub shut its doors in 2017, and it has been neglected ever since.
Thankfully it has recently been acquired, and work has begun to turn most of it into apartments, with the Bar, Restaurant, Kitchen and three rooms remaining as part of the Pub. I have visited the site and spoken to the manager twice in recent months to look at the condition the building was in and what progress has been made.
I impressed on him at the first meeting, the importance of restoring the outside of the property that has had become an eyesore, as it is in the conservation area and is facing one of the gateways into Calne. That has been taken on board and a lot of good progress has been made restoring and repainting the exterior faces of the building.
There is still a long way to go, but I think everyone one would agree that it’s a vast improvement to what it looked like before. If you know anyone who would be interested in taking on the pub, please let me know.