18/08/2026
❤️ A MESSAGE WE NEVER WANTED TO WRITE… ❤️
After a lot of thought, difficult conversations and more attempts to make things work than we can count, we have made the incredibly difficult decision that our time at The Bourne Arms is coming to an end.
We will be leaving The Bourne Arms within the next week or so, and we wanted you to hear it directly from us.
The truth is, enough is enough for us.
Since taking on The Bourne Arms, we have faced challenge after challenge. We’ve dealt with equipment failures, kitchen problems, unexpected closures, staffing difficulties and numerous issues behind the scenes that most customers will never have seen.
Every time something has gone wrong, we’ve tried again.
We’ve repaired things. We’ve replaced things. We’ve changed things. We’ve invested time, money and countless hours trying to overcome the problems and make The Bourne Arms what we knew it could be.
We’ve been knocked down, picked ourselves back up and carried on time and time again because we genuinely wanted to make this work.
But unfortunately, there comes a point where you have to say we can’t keep doing this anymore.
We know there have been occasions where things haven’t gone to plan. There have been kitchen closures, changes, disruptions and times where we haven’t been able to offer the service we wanted to. We completely understand the frustration that may have caused.
But behind every closure, every change and every difficult announcement has been us desperately trying to find another solution and keep moving forward.
We have tried. And tried. And tried again.
Eventually, you have to accept that there is only so much you can do, and for us, we have reached that point.
This is certainly not how we imagined our journey at The Bourne Arms ending, and making the decision to leave has been incredibly difficult.
But amongst all the challenges, there have also been some absolutely brilliant moments. ❤️
Seeing the pub busy again, football nights packed with people cheering together, live music, families enjoying themselves, locals having a pint and people simply enjoying their local pub — those are the memories we’ll take away with us.
To everyone who has supported us, stuck by us, sent us messages when things have been difficult, defended us and continued walking through our doors — thank you.
And a huge thank you to our staff who have stood alongside us through what has been an incredibly challenging journey.
We’re not quite gone yet, and we’ll let everyone know our final date as soon as everything is confirmed.
Until then, we’d love to see as many of you as possible over the next week or so. Come in, have a pint, have a laugh and help us finish our time at The Bourne Arms with some good memories. 🍻❤️
We can walk away knowing one thing for certain:
We gave it everything we had.
Thank you for everything.
Josh & George ❤️
