PUBS in Wellington town centre are keen to keep drinkers in town rather than see them head off to Taunton.

The King’s Arms in High Street, Wellington, closed at the start of the year and the Green Dragon in South Street in August last year. Meanwhile, Wetherspoon, as reported in the WWN last week, has put in new plans for the old town hall building.

Anna Winter, one of the license holders at The Vintage, said: “It’s sad to see the King’s Arms close, it was part of the jigsaw in Wellington. Its closure leaves a gap for those people who want to carry on drinking later in the evening.

“It is worrying the number of pubs that have closed over the years but you have to move with the times. People look for different things now and Wellington is only a small town, we have to try and keep people here now.”

Carl Wood, of the Victoria Arms, said it was too early to work out the effect of the King’s Arms’ closure but felt that once people had paid off their Christmas bills they would start heading to Taunton. He added: “Keeping people in Wellington is the biggest issue for pubs. The fewer places there are for them to go, the more chance they will go to Taunton, leading to a decrease in turnover and profits. Even though a lot of new houses are being built in Wellington, they’re not actually bringing people into town.”

Carl has been at the pub for 12 years and skittles, darts and pool teams are the mainstay of his trade – three years ago he built an extension to provide a second skittle alley. But the effects of the smoking ban in pubs, the recession and rising bills have hit hard.

He said: “The smoking ban knocked us for six – in the first year I reckon we lost about 20% and after that the recession hit. House prices came down and people were worried about spending. I still think we are in that kind of mood. Sky Sports is so expensive, even with a special deal at the moment it costs £7,000 with BT sports on top.

For the full story, see this week’s Wellington Weekly News/