I'm sure you don't want the letters page of your esteemed (by me, anyway) magazine turned into a slanging match, but the letter from Roger Ward in Newsletter No. 308 (Winter 2002/3) must be answered.
Your readers might well think his message, "I was the good guy, all the others were rotters", doesn't tell the whole story - and, of course, it doesn't, by a long way.
When he and a business partner (not mentioned in the letter) bid for the Green Man pub in Thriplow, the villagers were only too happy to withdraw their own bid, as Mr Ward's business partner was the well-liked owner of a popular, well-run pub in another South Cambs village.
After The Green Man re-opened, Mr Ward, whose work frequently took him out of the country, put a manager in to run it: the villagers got on well with the manager, and it became a popular pub, but after perhaps a couple of years or so Mr Ward decided to run the pub himself, sacking the manager, and buying out his business partner. The rot set in, for in lots of little ways he managed to antagonise many of his customers, and there was a generally unwelcoming atmosphere in the pub (not my words, but those of a local resident, a former customer).
The Green Man is a two bar pub, and Mr Ward decided to use the smaller, non-smoking bar mainly for food, with reserved tables: no problems there, but the already small bar counter now sprouted a large wine rack, making very difficult any attempt by the many non-smokers to congregate and drink there. It seemed yet another unspoken message. Locals told of seeing abusive signs in the pub windows in the early mornings, "Thriplow, you liars" was one such: the signs disappeared before 9 o'clock or so. Perhaps in the cold, sober light of day they didn't seem such a good idea?
I'm not a Thriplow resident, but I started drinking at The Green Man shortly after it reopened, attracted by Timothy Taylor's Landlord bitter. Usually well kept, it had a loyal following, but after a few years the stories started: "We had to send X number of casks of Landlord back" for various reasons: "The tap bung cracked because Taylor's had inserted it crooked" or "The beer was off". I'm sure all brewers occasionally cock up the brewing, or casking, but informal contacts with beer wholesalers' reps indicated it certainly didn't happen this often. Anyway, end result, Taylor's Landlord off the menu - the last straw for yet more customers.
There are popular, successful pubs in nearby villages, for example The Queen's Head, Newton, run by David Short, and The Bees in the Wall, Whittlesford, run by Lawrie Childs: they are publicans who take part in village life, and their pubs are focal points of village activities. I'm sure The Green Man could be equally popular and successful, run by the right man. Mr Ward was not, and is not, that man.
Les Millgate, Great Shelford