A SPORTS facility could become the new neighbourhood pub as it looks to get a bar up and running.

Boxted Parish Council is looking to get the bar back at the sports pavilion in Cage Lane, to provide a facility for the whole community to use.

Denise Humphries, Clerk to Boxted Parish Council, said: “We have been working on a neighbourhood development plan and one of the things the residents really miss is having a pub in the village.

“If we can get this up and running we could open it a couple of times a week, it’s key we find something that will benefit everyone.

“It has taken a lot for the council as the venue was in a bad state of repair, but we hope to get it up and running by Easter.”

In June this year the venue at King George V playing field was shut suddenly by the parish council for health and safety reasons and lack of money.

The parish council has so far spent £25,000 from its own resources fixing the showers and changing rooms for the sports groups that used it.

The hall is now open again for sports groups, but work is still being done on the rest of the building ready for the rest of the public to use including a bar area.

The council is now looking for people who could manage and run the bar independently.

It is hoping to look at all proposals received during January.

There are also talks of providing facilities for groups to hold afternoon teas, weddings and birthdays at the venue, as well as a possible childcare service.

For further information about the project and contact the council clerk on 01206 329019 or email boxted-council@btconnect.com.

All proposals need to be sent to the clerk by Friday, December 11.

The former pubs of Boxted

•The Cross Inn : The Cross was the first of Boxted’s pubs and the only inn, it was on the village crossroad. It was first recorded in 1784 and was formerly known as the Dog and Partridge. The property was sold, modernised and opened as a restaurant in 1983 but the plans did not succeed and it has since been converted into a private house.

•The Greyhound, Mill Road: In 1762 The Greyhound opened halfway along Mill Road. It is thought that The Greyhound closed in 1848 when the occupant transferred the pub business further down Mill Road, calling it Thatcher’s. The Thatcher’s closed in 1911.

•The Fox Pub (Lilley’s), Church Street: In 1871 the head of the household at Lilley’s beer house in Church Street, later known as The Fox, was Salome Lilley aged 15. With her brothers, Abraham, aged eight, and Henry, aged two, they managed the pub until Abraham became landlord. The Fox closed in 1926.

•The Wig & Fidgett, Straight Road: The Wig and Fidgett was built about 1855 and was the last pub in Boxted to remain open before it closed in 2005.

•The Butcher's Arms, Workhouse Hill: The Butcher’s Arms at the top of Workhouse Hill started trading in the late 1840s as a beer house. The property is now a private house.

•The Queen's Head, Straight Road: The property was built in 1851 as a farmhouse. In 1857 it received a licence to brew beer. In 1970, it closed and was sold as a private house which later became a nursing home. The original house has since been demolished.