Chesham: The Griffin landlady comments on pub closure

Many residents were left dismayed when The Griffin pub in Chesham shut for the final time at the end of the summer.

Over the past year, the beloved pub’s landlady Pat Miller tried to tackle rising costs by slashing kitchen opening hours to reduce the energy bill while they also struggled with the impact of the Covid pandemic on custom and cost of living crisis taxing customers’ wallets.

However, these measures were not enough and staying open was “not a viable” any longer for Pat and her husband Steve, who ran the pub together for 24 years.

She said: “It wasn’t viable for us any more physically, financially or mentally. We just couldn’t do it anymore. They are a dying trade.

Pat Miller was awarded for her long career and helping the community in April by Chesham's then-mayor Majid Ditta (Image: Wilford Augustus)

“But it’s nice to see that there are still a lot of pubs that are opening.

“We were hoping it would pick up.

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Now Pat and Steve were going to "take a step back." 

"My health hasn’t been great and Steve’s not feeling it either. It’s been a huge shock to the system. Running a pub for 24 years and then not doing it, it’s a shock," Pat said. 

Although it was their decision to close, she said “in a way we were forced because of the costs.”

“Affording the rent, the beer prices and the energy costs,” she explained.

She said many people and families were no longer able to afford meals out. She said breweries were going to put the price of the beer up as their overheads were increasing, while energy prices for pubs were likely to hike again this winter.

The Griffin pub on Bellingdon Road has now closed after 24 years. (Image: File image)

For more than two decades, Pat served a Christmas meal for the elderly plus regular monthly meals to tackle loneliness, including selling and delivering meals to those who couldn’t leave their home.

“I’ll miss doing the elderly lunches. I will miss that I must admit. But we’ve got our family around us and we’ve been blessed with a new grandchild,” she said.

She said the regulars were all “very sad” when they closed.

“Very kind words were said to us. We didn’t have any bad words said, everybody was just so disappointed,” she added.

The chairman of Mid-Chilterns CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Jared Ward said: “It is devastating to hear of The Griffin’s closure. The closure of this much-loved local follows a worrying national trend which we hope can be slowed and reversed as businesses and customers come to terms with a tough operating environment which has been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis.

"Thank you to all the team at The Griffin for their hard work over the years, we’ll raise a glass to them.”