Boarded up and left to decay: The Old Corner House is a surprisingly large building
Further to my post ‘The pubs we’ve lost‘, I noticed a couple of weekends ago that the Old Corner House Hotel, formerly The Muckley Corner Inn, had closed and was boarded up. Last weekend, I got chance to photograph it, it’s a huge site – it must have been quite a business in its day. Positioned in the middle of nowhere, it stands on the traffic island that forms the junction of the A5 and A461. It’s always mystified me as to how the pub got enough trade to survive – it wasn’t in a particularly attractive spot and there was no local trade to speak of, the only custom being drivers passing. It did function as a hotel and Italian restaurant for some time, but I’ve never noticed it being particularly busy. Oddly, it’s not a house I’ve ever had a drink in.
Lets hope something can be done with it. Perhaps those nice people at The Lichfield Blog have some more information about the situation there?
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Now there’s a thing. I have drunk and eaten in there several times in the not too distant past.
You’d be surprised- when I’ve been in there were a few regulars. I’d imagine they came form the few houses nearby, and it did pick up passing trade.
When the last proprietors had first opened up, they did a reasonable job. The place was smartened up, and the bar food wasn’t bad at all. However, it seemed to go downhill. We went for a meal with friends, and the food was variable (from ‘poor’ to ‘average’), and not cheap by any means, and the staff were more interested in the X factor (with a shouted discussion) than serving us, so we didn’t go back, which is a shame- we’d often walk up through the back lanes, and have a pint or three and some lunch.
I hope it returns as a going concern, but things aren’t looking good, as the Rising Sun just along the A5 hasn’t changed in some months. Mind you, The Crown is doing a roaring trade.
I live 500 yards away from the pub and popped there a few times for drink at christmas etc. It needs someone like whetherspoons or something to take it over. My mum works at the garage over the road and she heard that the woman who owned it before is on about taking it back over but i wouldnt. It all needs gutting and doing up and if its going to be popular it needs more car parking space. They painted the whole building when they took it over but in about a year or 2 it was back to a dirty white colour from the traffic lol.
My better half spotted in the paper (in the public notices) that there has been an offer of around half a million quid for it in the last week or so. That seems fairly cheap given the size, but I suppose it would still need a lot of further investment.
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