'Final straw', says Corby MP, as The Rock goes up in flames again
Corby’s MP says he’s advocating for compulsory purchase of a beloved Corby pub after it was targeted by arsonists for the second time in a month.
Labour MP Lee Barron said today that scenes from last night’s (Friday, April 24) fire at the Rockingham Arms in Studfall Avenue were ‘shocking’, and described it as ‘the final straw’.
He said: “Following the last incident I wrote to the police and the council about securing the site and attempted to make contact with the owner but without success.
"We have already raised it to look at compulsory purchase orders to get rid of the site and bring the land back in to public use. It’s been derelict and a magnet for anti social behaviour for too long and tonight’s serious incident is the final straw.”
The brewery, Tadcaster-based Samuel Smith’s, have already told our reporters they had nothing to say about the future of the pub, which has been empty for a decade.
Councillor Mark Pengelly rushed to the scene last night after the fire took hold about 8pm.
He told the Northants Telegraph that is was his belief, and that of locals, that the brewery owners partly responsible for the fire because they have not secured the site since the last blaze. He said: “It is a sad day for Corby with the town’s people really upset to see the damage from yesterdays fire at the Rockingham Arms.
"The emergency services did a brilliant job trying to bring the fire under control, but they should not have been put in that position and I pray that there was no-one in the building when it went up. “The Rock falls into West Ward but I went to see what was happening because it affects the residents in Lloyd’s that I represent and I had several calls from concerned resident not long after the fire started. “When I was at the incident last night several local residents told me they had seen children on the roof not long before it went up. It is, of course, for the police to investigate if this is linked. “Locals said to me “Mark it wasn’t if, but it was when it would go up in fire and the brewery are to blame’. I fully support their views.
"I believe the brewery and owners should be part of any investigation. They were fully aware of the incident in their pub a few weeks ago a pub that they are responsible for. The pub was not secure and it was their duty to ensure it was. “I personally believe the owners should be forced to rebuild the pub, insurance money or not . “It’s ironic that the man who banned phones and swearing inside his pub had dozens of people filming his pub from the outside and calling him every swear word going the brewery should hang their heads in shame.”
The pub opened in 1955 and was at the heart of Corby’s growing West Lloyds community for many decades, until its closure ten years ago. Its owner Samuel Smith’s brewery do not allow pubgoers to use mobiles or swear in their pubs, and hundreds of them up and down the country remain shuttered.
Samuel Smith’s brewery have been contacted for comment.