The Bobovers’ pub

The Telegraph

By Uriel Heilman · September 15, 2008

Regular drinkers in London's East End have their knickers all in a bunch over the possible sale of a historic local watering hole, the 250-year-old Swan, to a group of Bobover Chasidim who plan to turn it into a shul, the U.K. Evening Standard reports.

The pub's landlady said the prospect of the pub's closure would hit the elderly (!) especially hard.

Ellen McLean, the landlady for seven years, said: "People are aggravated. It's hard for some, especially the elderly customers who have been coming here for years. It's all very sad."

The pub's owners, Punch Taverns, who run more than 8,000 other establishments, confirmed they had received an offer to buy The Swan.

"No deal has been completed, and we are listening to the concerns regarding the closure of the pub," a spokesman said.

Solomon Goldman, from the Bobov community, said: "We are willing to negotiate."

Maybe Goldman can invite the pub crawlers for a little l'chaim?