Opinion: The oldest pub in St Leonards is up for sale - this is why it shouldn't be changed

Dust motes filter through shafts of grey silvery light across the surface of a wooden table where two old boys sit enjoying a game of chess. There is a cheery fire in the gate and a few regulars sit at the back bar chatting.

It’s the first time I have been able to bring myself to cross the threshold since eccentric long-standing landlord David Sansbury died in January 2022 and I am happy to find it totally unchanged.

In fact, the interior of the pub hasn’t changed since I first discovered it, aged 16, 44 years ago.

For me Dave Sansbury was the Horse and Groom and gave rise to it’s devoted regulars jokingly re-naming it ‘The Doom and Gloom’. Dave was curmudgeonly and obsessive, but he was a great character and is greatly missedThe catalyst for my long overdue return visit was the fact that the pub has been put up for sale.This has caused some concern among devotees of ‘The Doom’ that want to see it remain as it is.

This is not to set things in aspic. The pub attracts people of all ages, and from all walks of life, who enjoy its unique atmosphere and soon become committed regulars. It’s generational – there are as many ‘young fogeys’ in there as ‘old fogey’s’.

Here you will find regular pub-goers that at any one time could include the piano player from The Ritz, a local plasterer, a surgeon, a council bin collector a charity worker and an internationally known film director. Some of the Doom's clientele are elderly and live alone. For many, the pub, with its quiet hum of conversation and no piped music is a social lifeline, a welcome relief from loneliness.

For me the Horse and Groom is a place to read and dream on late autumn and winter afternoons, a bolt hole, a sanctuary. I love the place because there is nowhere else like it in Hastings and St Leonards. Pubs like this, in back streets all over the town, used to be commonplace. Now they are on the verge of extinction.

If you want pubs you can take young children to, there is plenty of choice. If its a pub that also serves as a restaurant take your pick – we have some of the best on the south coast. Pubs with loud music or karaoke? The town has you covered. But the Horse and Groom is special because it is none of these things and unique. One of the last bastions of traditional conversation over a pint of ale in an adult environment.

To lose that would be an absolute tragedy. The pub is a local treasure and needs to be maintained as it is.

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