York pub shuts suddenly – and barricades car park with rocks – while another reopens

A large York pub is shut and empty – and its car park is blocked by large boulders.

The Brigadier Gerard on Monkgate closed last Friday and has not reopened since.

Locals say the licensees gave their notice and left, and the pub’s owner – Tadcaster brewers Samuel Smith’s – have not replaced them.

A notice on the car park indicated that it has been shut since noon on March 21.

Sam Smith’s owners would not comment on the decision.

Once a private house

According to A Directory of York Pubs 1455-2003 by Hugh Murray, what is now the Brigadier Gerard began life as a private house.

It later became the Gas Works Social Club. This was extended to create the pub, which opened in 1984.

Named after a successful racehorse which won the 1971 2000 Guineas, it in turn took its name from a character in a novel by Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle.

The brewery is known for its eccentric approach to managing its pub chain. Previous pubs have been closed without warning, only to reopen days, weeks or months later.

This is what happened to the Wellington on Alma Terrace which shut last April, and was back in business with new licensees not long afterwards.

The Bay’s back

As one door shuts, another opens…

We reported back in November that Sam Smith’s pub the Trafalgar Bay was closed.

Again no comment came from the brewery, although YorkMix understood that the previous licensees had left due to illness.

But on Wednesday night (March 28) the Nunnery Lane pub reopened under new management.

Sarah Walmsley and her husband Phil are now in charge.

The pub has a fruit machine, pool table, darts, dominoes, and a beer garden. Its Penny Raffle runs every day with a £40 bar tab as the prize.

There are plans for a pub outing to Rowntree Park for a treasure hunt on Friday (March 30) and an Easter tombola on Sunday (April 1).