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Picture source: Adrian Smith

The Black Bull was situated on Hall Lane. This pub closed in 2013, having been open since 1620.

The pub had struggled for years. Its obscure, socially isolated location didn't help. Nor did competition from nearby gastropubs that better catered to the rather snobbish local "countryside set" of which Mawdesley is infamous. In it's later years this pub was shut most evenings. It finally closed in 2013 and was put up for sale. The pub was bought by a company that (fittingly for Mawdesley) runs Retirement Homes. The original plan was to develop in to a gastro-pub but the company ran out of funds partway through the development. The pub has since been left derelict. The enclave of Mawdesley has very lax/non existant planning restrictions. As the enclave is very isolated from the rest of society many things come to pass that would not happen else where. Although the Black Bull is a grade 2 listed building (and would be preserved in most other areas of England) the high demand (and profit margin) for luxury houses in the enclave is such that planning restrictions are normally flouted. Certainly other listed buildings in the enclave have in recent years been demolished or rebuilt to make for new large luxury houses/mansions. It appears likely that the Black Bull will go the same way as every other historic building in the enclave and be demolished (or at best gutted and essentially rebuilt) to make way for another mansion or a new gated luxury housing development.

Mawdesley Tractor (July 2016)

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Other Photos

Picture source: Peter Jones