King's Lynn publican bemoans effects of Brexit

Roger Duggan, 76, of the Crown and Mitre on Ferry Street, who has lived in Lynn since 1970, said people are spending less money due to Brexit.

Mr Duggan, who took over the pub in 1994, said: “This is the third bad year we have had since Brexit. People are just not spending money at the moment.”

Despite this, he said his pub has received global recognition due to its unique appeal and location.

“It’s a lovely old building, a really beautiful building,” Mr Duggan said. “There is not a level floor or a square corner in it. That’s what it should be, it’s built on the old dock wall.

“We dug down 11ft and there it was. The old captain who used to run the Conservative Board photographed it all, and I still have the photos upstairs.

“The foundations for the rest of this place are church stone.”

The pub is continuing to operate as much as possible with its core hours being approximately 11am to 2.30pm then 6pm to 9.30pm according to a member of staff.

With regards to the pub’s global visitors, Mr Duggan said: “It’s been plastered all over the world. As an example, about 10 to 11 months ago, we had eight Americans walk in through the door.

“They came to the bar and did not say hello and all that, they just said ‘We know all about you in North Carolina’.

“I went ‘what!’, but then we also had a vicar from New York come and he said exactly the same thing when he came here: ‘We know all about you in New York’.

“We have had people ring up from Australia to book a table and I thought it was someone winding the pub up. The guy turned up for christ sake!

“They come from all over the world to see this place, but I do not make a song and dance about it. We just carry on with the people who come in.”

The pub has an upstairs deck bar and seating area looking over the Great River Ouse which Mr Duggan built himself.

He also prides the pub as a place of conversation due to the lack of a jukebox and fruit machines.

Mr Duggan added: “To me everyone is equal. No-one is above anyone else.

“We once had someone come in who had come to the town to perform at the theatre and he did not bother to pay his food bill.

“I chased him up the town and got the money back.

“He was just an ordinary bloke but he thought he was someone special. He was no different to you or me.

“That’s how we run this pub with strict rules. People that have been barred in 1994 are still barred today.

“There’s never any fighting here, there’s never any arguing, there’s no disturbance from this place whatsoever.

“There’s an awful lot of fighting and drunkenness in this town, but I am not a part of that here.”