No Longer a FREEHOUSE

After over 250 years of being a freehouse, Thwaites bought the Lister Arms in Malham in summer 2007 for £1.2 Million. This has been a disaster for Malham as it now means that every pound spent over the bar is no longer supporting a local business with strong roots in local community but going to prop up the bottom line of a faceless disinterested Lancashire based brewery. Since taking over, they have fired nearly all the local staff and cut the hours of those that remain whilst simultaneously employing agency staff from out of town. They don't support any local events or charities and have been abandoned by residents. The Listers have lost their place in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide, taken out handpumps and refused to put in a proper guest ale. The pub has had a series of managers one of which was caught committing adultery in the men's toilets. They also evicted Oscar and Henry, the legendary pub cats, on the grounds of not being able to pay vet bills!!. The pub has become distant and dissociated from village life. Thwaites are responsible for the exodus of capital and jobs away from the area and thereby reducing long term sustainability of an already beleaguered rural economy. My advice, give this place a miss and go the Buck Inn where the new owners have invested their own money back into Malham.

Henry Oscar - 27/11/2008 | report this review