Historic South Downs village pub shows its support for our health heroes

An historic pub in a South Downs village has come up with a special way of honouring our health heroes amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The Fountain Inn at Ashurst will be projecting the NHS logo onto the front of the bulding tonight as the nation stages the weekly ‘clap for carers’ in support of health workers.

Lindsay Fergusson, who lives at the pub along with owner Alex Tipping, said: “We intend to do this all bank holiday weekend and for the foreseeable future.

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“We are the hub of this village and we want to show our support.”

The Fountain Inn, Ashurst SUS-200705-123336001The Fountain Inn, Ashurst SUS-200705-123336001
The Fountain Inn, Ashurst SUS-200705-123336001

Since lockdown The Fountain - built in 1581 and once the favourite pub of local resident Laurence Olivier - has been running a weekly takeaway service as well as delivering essentials to vulnerable people in the village.

Said Lindsay: “It’s a wonderful place to live and this pandemic has demonstrated what a tight-knit, strong and compassionate community we are.”

The Fountain itself is steeped in history and has survived wars, recessions and more. “We’re determined to survive Covid-19,” said Lindsay.

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Among the pub’s claims to fame is that it was the film set for Sir Paul McCartney’s ‘Simply having a wonderful Christmas time’.

But, although proud of its historic past, the pub is looking to the future.

“We are also expecting that in the coming years ‘staycations’ will become very popular and we are preparing for busy times ahead,” said Lindsay.

“We are working closely with our chef to design the perfect menu as well as building relationships with suppliers in order to create a perfect quintessentially British venue for events and weddings.

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“We are excited for our future. We know how special this place is and we want to share that with everyone in the not too distant future.”

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