A Hove pub has reopened after a brief closure for repair work in the cellar.
The Grenadier, in Hangleton Road, closed about a fortnight ago prompting a whirlwind of rumours on social media that the doors were shut after a drugs raid by police.
But a Facebook post in the pub’s name said that work was needed on the pub’s “compression systems”.
At the same time, a notice went up in the windows saying that urgent structural repairs were needed to the cellar.
Sussex Police said that the closure was not the result of a raid, with no arrests having taken place there either.
The pub reopened on Monday evening (25 March), with Michael Thake as the new general manager, taking over from Richard Taylor.
Mr Taylor had been the “designated premises supervisor” for almost nine years, according to Brighton and Hove City Council’s licensing register.
The pub is owned by Mitchells and Butlers. The company said: “The pub closed due to structural work in the cellar but has been open since Monday.”
Some comments on social media expressed concern that the pub might have closed for good.
The Grenadier serves an area where some pubs have struggled to survive, with two rivals given over to housing.
The Downsman, with its distinctive green roof, closed in 2014 and has since been demolished. The pub, in Hangleton Way, was part of a one-acre site that now contains dozens of new-build homes.
And planning permission was granted in 2000 to knock down the Maytree, an old Kemp Town Brewery pub, in Old Shoreham Road.
Nine houses were built on the site which sits between Old Shoreham Road and Maytree Close and opposite the old Knoll School.
Meanwhile, the owner of the Hangleton Manor, in Hangleton Valley Drive, looked to broaden its customer base by converting one of the bars in the 15th century listed building to become a restaurant dining room.
Bit late now, the economy is toast.