The Hugh Hefner of High Wycombe is set to call time on his legendary strip pub after 30 years of drinks and dancing – but promises one last blowout.
Alastair Watts, 77, has been at the helm of The White Horse through many “hugely successful” years, but on December 30 will be calling last orders due to a “perfect storm” of rising costs and a developer’s desire to build a new block of flats.
Alastair said he was shuttering The White Horse, “one of the oldest strip pubs in England,” “unhappily”. “The building is over 100 years out, it’s a perfect storm if you like,” he explained. “The building’s worn out, I’m worn out”.
READ MORE: 'We ate stranger's Wetherspoons food and got banned from ordering – it wasn't our fault'
Get the latest news on the Daily Star homepage.
Like many pubs around the country, the cost of living crisis has had a horrific impact. “It’s a big old barn of a place, the costs of keeping the place heated are just incredible.”
The building’s owner, a local property developer, is understood to have little interest in keeping the Horse open as a bar, “he wants to pull it down and build a block flats – there’s a surprise… it’s happening all over.”
The application was not accepted by The Local Planning Authority on grounds of “unacceptable scale and character”, flood risk and potential environmental harm. This, however, was not enough for Alastair to change his mind and keep the boozer open.
Alastair said he didn’t fancy finding a new property at his age – he turns 78 over Christmas – and decided to walk away from “The Pound Shop” as it has been known by some due to punters paying a pound to look at the dancers.
“It has been me for 20 years – I’m the only person you’ll ever talk to who holds a sexual entertainment license. It’s bizarre when you think about it, the licence is in my name – yeah right – at 78 that’s going to work!”
The White Horse has provided a springboard for the careers of many of the women who walk through its doors. “Many of them have gone on to be hugely successful models,” Alastair explained.
Many of his former employees at the West Wycombe Road venue “became top erotic models – one became a police officer, they’ve all done pretty well by working here.”
He noted that rising taxes on strip pubs meant that they were a dying breed – “the licencing, the sheer hassle of it. There are still plenty of dancers around." In its heyday, the likes of Coldplay and Kings of Leon played there, but now, as the end appears on the horizon, Alistair is still in good spirits.
“The 30th, ‘the last hurrah,’ we’ve called it. Lots of dancers, lots of old faces and we’re rather hoping we can drink everything that’s left in the pub.”
To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
Source: Read Full Article