One of the oldest pubs in Filey, The Grapes, has closed its doors for the last time. The Queen Street pub has been sold by Admiral Taverns as an unlicensed premise and it is expected that it will be converted to holiday flats.

Former landlord Nick Herrington, who ran the pub for five and a half years with his partner Michelle, told the Scarborough News: “When I came in The Grapes was shut and I rescued it and got it back up and running. It took me a while but the Filey people are friendly and customers became friends.

“I had no intentions of leaving. I thought it was going to be my retirement pub but Admiral have made that decision for me. It’s a big shame, I’m totally gutted but all I can do is praise the customers that I’ve had over the years.”

The pub company Admiral claim that the closure was not connected to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, but was a purely commercial decision. We understand that the pub was sold for £175,000.

A number of yeas ago The Grapes was a real hub of the community, an old fashioned pub, where visitors could rub shoulders with fishermen and locals. Whether it became a victim of changing times, or its change of ownership to a pub company, can be debated all day long. The last time we went into The Grapes, the beer offering was very limited, even then some of the stock had sold out. The staff were very welcoming, but it felt like that they were fighting a losing battle. The parallels with the Imperial on Hope Street are striking. Another once thriving pub, currently closed and under pub company ownership.

But we digress, The Grapes had been serving the folk of Filey since at least 1825. It is a shame to see a part of the town’s social history lost. The message has to be, particularly post-pandemic, support your local pub! It’s perhaps fortunate that Filey’s oldest pub, the Foords, is in the ownership of the landlord.

The Grapes, Queen Street, in happier times