Time called at Woolhampton pub

The historic coaching inn is currently boarded up and there are no plans to reopen it.
The pub, owned by Wiltshire-based Arkells Brewery, hit the headlines in April when an articulated lorry and mobile home jack-knifed into the building
Licensee Wayne Sangwell said the incident was like an “earthquake” and added that staff and customers were shocked but unhurt.
The building sustained some damage but was reported to be safe and open for business as usual.
However Mr Sangwell and his wife Lesley have since left and the building is boarded up.
This week, brewery director George Arkell said: “It is with regret that, following the lorry crash into The Rising Sun at Woolhampton a few weeks ago, further investigations by the pub owner Arkells Brewery, has led it to the conclusion that the pub is no longer able to be run as a going concern. The brewery is now considering the future of the building but has not made any firm decisions.”
A spokeswoman for the company, Nicky Godding, said: “It’s a shame because the company does try very hard not to close pubs.”
There has been a pub on the site since the 1600s. Despite being extensively rebuilt over the centuries, the building retained old beams and open fires. It was bought by Arkells in 2003.
The chairman of the West Berkshire branch of Campaign for Real Ale Richard Scullion, who was appointed to the position three weeks ago, said that the closure of The Rising Sun was sad news for the community.
“It’s very bad news and it’s disappointing that one of our regional breweries is seemingly content to not let it be a pub anymore,” he said.
“CAMRA is about supporting pubs almost as much as supporting real ale – the only place you can drink real ale is in a real pub.”
The Rising Sun was said to have been the scene of the arrest, by the Bow Street Runners, of a notorious highwayman named Captain Hawkes.