Here we go again – another circa 1960s pub built on an out of town estate, Eyres Monsell started it out as a good, well kept pub, only to see it change hands over the years. With little investment it gradually fell into disrepair, it seemed to follow the same pattern as others built in the same era.
The government beer orders forced breweries to sell on pubs in their estate over a limit of 2000, so the Invincible passed on from Bass to Enterprise Inns.
The decline continued until December 2005, when then landlord, Keith Beasley, was convicted on a drink driving charge, so losing his pub licence. Enterprise Inns decided to sell the pub, closing it on 28 December.
Keith and his wife were then made homeless, so lived in a car on the pub car park with their two dogs Spike and Buster – all cramped together with their belongings in a Renault Espace.
Plans were put into place to replace the site with houses and new shopping centre, but due to the recession this was put on hold. Residents petitioned the council because of the eyesore, but as ownership of the land had changed hands several times it seemed procrastination was the order of the day. The council finally lost patience with the developers, threatening them with law to demolish and clean up the site.
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