Colchester's Leather Bottle pub closes its doors to punters

The Leather Bottle, in Shrub End Road, Colchester, closed its doors to punters on Christmas Day last year, landlady Maxine Burch confirmed.

Maxine, who took on the pub last summer, said the boozer had turned a corner after a chequered start to the year.

The historic pub lost its alcohol licence in December 2021 after a police probe found it was “at the heart of a large-scale cocaine business”.

• READ MORE >>> The Leather Bottle pub’s licence is revoked after cocaine dealing

The pub was granted a new licence in May, with £800,000 spent refurbishing the pub, including on cameras which feed footage straight to the police, according to Ms Burch.

The Leather Bottle has closed its doors to customers (Image: From public)

Barrister Dan Taylor told Colchester Council’s licensing sub-committee Ms Burch should not be “tarnished” by previous events at the pub unconnected to her.

He said: “As far as the application is concerned, various safeguards have been provided within that application in order to meet the concerns that have been raised by some of the local residents in this case.

“It is of note, we say, that in fact the police and other authorities don’t object to the granting of the licence and there has been significant dialogue between the parties prior to today’s hearing.”

Speaking to the Gazette last year, Maxine admitted her first two months at the helm of the pub were “very hard”, but added she was focused on moving forward.

When approached this week, Maxine confirmed the pub had closed but did not elaborate on the reason behind the decision.

• READ MORE >>> Leather Bottle Colchester celebrates improvement works

Speaking previously, she said she had overseen “a total revamp”, adding: “People who came in here before say they can’t believe the change and how it’s become its own community already.

“We have new customers and some people who have returned after not being here for ten years, so it’s all positive and very exciting. There are new faces, decent people.”

She added: “I go to Pubwatch every month and all the staff are fully trained with zero tolerance to drugs and violence.”

But nothing would be possible without her workers, she added: “We’re a great team, you have nothing if you don’t have that and I can tell you – we’re a good one”.