The White Swan in Charlton Village is closing tomorrow for a refurbishment, and not opening its doors again until 21 April.
The pub’s now changed hands since the spell last year when a new manager tried to drag it up in the world – serving coffee, starting a “yummy mummies’ morning”, that kind of thing. But the refurbishment only seemed to be half-finished, and when two female friends of mine got harrassed by punters just for the crime of ordering pints last summer, it was clear that the job really hadn’t worked. The boss departed a few weeks later.
Now there’s two new bosses and a black cat prowling the place. Will this be the decent pub the village deserves? Watch this space…
The Charlton Champion 
It’s going to take some doing. I was standing opposite the pub last night watching this one guy trying to smoke, he was almost horizontal whilst holding himself up on the railings. He then went back in by feeling his way round by the wall… but stopped to have a chat at the door with the local glue sniffer who had also popped outside to top up his drink from the can of Cider he had placed outside the door! Comical.
Roughhouse.