A HISTORIC pub has been boarded up, amid reports it closed its doors for the final time on Saturday.

Residents have seen windows being boarded up at The Swan, in The Broadway, Wickford. And the hostelry is now listed as “permanently closed” on Google. 

The pub is hugely popular with residents and is believed to date back to 1925, however it was run under the name the White Swan. 

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The owners of the pub were unavailable for comment when contacted by the Echo; however, the website whatpub.com states “This pub is closed, January 2023, for reasons unknown”. 

Residents on social media claimed the pub closed its doors for the final time on Saturday, with the site being boarded up in the days since.

Gemma Webb, 38, said: “The Swan pub will always have a place in my heart as I have been drinking in there since I was 18.

“I have really good memories in there over the years, I meet my best friend in there, and my partner too.

“My daughter, Emily Hales, has also been going in there since she was born - so the pub being boarded up, and shutting is devastating to me.”

Another resident in the area, Danielle Duke, 34, added: “I will miss this place, but I have good memories of The Swan pub.

“I have been drinking in the Swan pub since I was 18.

“I have had some good nights out in there with friends.

“Long live The Swan.”

This news comes just days after the former Swan Garage site, near to the pub, had planning permission granted for 29 new flats.

Peter Holliman, councillor for the Wickford North ward, said: “I noticed it had got boards up there at this precise moment, but I hadn’t heard about it closing, so will mention this at a meeting.

“It was popular, I know it had a couple of different owners over the years, but as far as I am concerned, they were doing a good job, as I had been there a few times.

“So, this is as much as a surprise to me as anybody.”