Calls to re-open iconic Southend pub as brewing giant reveals £39m cash injection

CALLS have been made for Heineken to re-open an iconic pub in Southend after the brewing giant revealed it a £39million cash injection into watering holes in the UK.

Heineken announced it is to invest the cash in more than 600 of its UK pubs, in a move it says will create more than 1,000 new jobs.

The Dutch brewing giant said the cash injection into its Star Pubs operation will also allow it to reopen 62 long-term closed pubs this year.

The Railway Hotel - arguably one of Southend’s most famous pubs - closed under “the weight of unbearable pressures and almost un-tradeable circumstances” during the Covid pandemic.

Since closing in 2020, it has remained vacant, despite campaigns to have it registered as a community asset and protected.

Star Pubs and Bars, which owns the pub, revealed new plans in December about a “significant refurbishment” which will “breathe a new lease of life into this pub”.

This was as they hunted for a new independent operator to run the business.

After the new announcement of the £39 million cash injection, calls are now being made to ensure The Railway Hotel is one of the 62 closed pubs, to be re-opened.

In 2007, Southend musician Dave Dulake and his wife Fiona Dulake, oversaw a £50,000 refurbishment and successfully run the pub for almost 13 years before it was put up for sale.

The couple were delighted to hear about the cash injection and hoped the Railway would benefit from it.

Thy said: “That is good news. We would love to see it open again, so we can sit in the beer garden with our mates like the old days.

“Let’s hope it comes off.”

Former English guitarist Wilko Johnson and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century David Bowie had been known to previously attend the pub.

Matt Dent, Labour councillor responsible for the Kursaal ward, said: “It would be great to see the Railway benefit from this.

“It is part of the local history especially for arts and music. Getting it re-opened would be fantastic.

“I am sure we would all love to see it.

“It has been closed for a number of years now and has left a whole in the local scene where it used to be so popular.

“I would love to see it re-opened; it would be fantastic for Southend.”