A PUB which was owned by celebrity chef Marco Pierre White has been sold for an undisclosed sum after being put on the market with a guide price of £795,000.

It was reported in July 2013 that Mr White had bought the 16th century Horse and Groom Inn at Charlton, near Malmesbury.

At the time he already owned the Pear Tree Inn at Whitley near Melksham, and Rudloe Hall Hotel in Corsham at the time and the Horse and Groom was branded a Wheelers Inn.

Mr White, who grew up on a Leeds council estate, trained under Albert Roux at Mayfair’s Le Gavroche.

By the time he was 33, Marco Pierre White had become the youngest and the first British chef to be awarded three Michelin stars in England.

However his dream of a pub empire seem to have turned sour as he shut the Pear Tree last year. It has now been listed as community asset to help preserve its place in the Melksham village and Punch Taverns has said it could reopen in May.

Acting on behalf of RBS, specialist property adviser Christie + Co sold the Horse and Groom to the operators who own two other successful pubs - Tunnel House near Cirencester and The Crown at Giddeahall. 

Nicholas Calfe, director at Christie + Co’s Bristol office, said: "There is a dwindling supply of freehold pub assets in the market, so the instruction to sell a premium property such as the Horse & Groom generated both significant and competitive interest.”

A couple who visited in the Horse and Groom in March wrote on TripAdvisor.co.uk: "Nic and I couldn't wait to get back to a pub we love to visit and had a very nice evening where staff were friendly, attentive and really looked after us. A big change from the previous visit under the Knorr chap but that's now long forgotten! Food was great and we ll be back..."

And another reviewer said: "After the previous owners had let this place go, the new ones had a tough job on their hands. But boy have they exceeded expectations. I went for Sunday lunch today with my parents who live in the village and my young son. A warm welcome greeted us, service was attentive, food was out of this world and the presentation was fantastic.

"Cannot wait to go back and just wish I had this place as my local. Well done to the new owners." 

BARRY LEIGHTON writes: Villagers Jon Pennycott and Phil Thompson have taken over their local pub from celebrity chef Marco Pierre White with the aim of “restoring it to the heart of the community.”

The business partners, who have been living in Charlton near Malmesbury for eight years, said The Horse and Groom had become rundown, neglected and increasingly cold shouldered by local people.

When Christies put the 16th Century country pub and restaurant on the market late last year they were among several parties who registered interest and their offer was accepted several weeks later.

With the hostelry now up and running with a new lease of life they are in the process of returning The Horse and Groom “to the village”, with aims to plough £150,000 into the venture in addition to the un-named sum which they paid for it.

Mr Pennycott, 40, who lives just a few doors away from the pub, said: “We’re really excited about it. The response from villagers since we opened has been fantastic. What we want to do is quite simple – we want to give the village back its local pub.”

Mr Pennycott and Mr Thompson, 41, who jointly run the Swindon signage firm Eco Signs, were keen regulars at The Horse and Groom when they moved to Charlton.

“It was really good here for a couple of years,” said Mr Pennycott.

But the things began going wrong when its owners Merchant Inns went into administration in 2009. Bespoke Inns took over before Marco Pierre White, dubbed “the enfant terrible” of the UK restaurant scene, acquired the lease in the summer of 2013.

Mr Pennycott said: “People in Charlton were very excited. We all thought it was great that someone of his standing should take over our village pub.”

He said Mr White poured a lot of money into The Horse and Groom and that it all went well for around six months when his daughter Letty ran the business.

However, when she left Mr Pennycott said that it all began to slide downhill.

“There was no direction, no management. It went down and down and down big time. “The different people they had managing it didn’t seem to know what they were doing.

“Villagers began boycotting it. The Horse and Groom started to deteriorate.”

Mr Pennycott and Mr Thompson already had experience in the pub game. They had both run The Kings Arms in Malmesbury for a while and also acquired a rural tavern, The Tunnel House at Coates near Cirencester which, they say, they have turned from “a decent place into a very good place.”

Mr Pennycott said: “When we heard The Horse and Groom had gone onto the market last October we decided to make an offer. We wanted our village pub back so we thought ‘why not run it ourselves?’ ”

They acquired it from the same company that Bespoke and Mr Pierre had leased it from and now feel it has been entrusted to them on behalf of the people of Charlton for the next couple of decades.

They are currently returning some of the pub’s Lord Charlton signage and memorabilia and plan to serve both pub grub and gastro food as well as open-up a “hidden beer garden” for the summer.