Appeal launched to save pub where Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett and David Gilmour first met

(Image credit: The Flying Pig)

An appeal has been launched to save a historic Cambridge pub where future Pink Floyd bandmates Syd Barrett and David Gilmour are said to have first met.

The Flying Pig, formerly known as The Crown, is under threat of being demolished as part of ongoing redevelopment plans filed by Pace Construction Limited. A pub has been on the Hills Road site since the 1840s and Barrett and Gilmour are reputed to have met at the venue in the late 1950s.

The Flying Pig has been under threat for over a decade, with the city council first approving redevelopment plans back in 2008. In June, the pub and venue’s managers Matt and Justine Hatfield revealed that they had been given six months to vacate the property.

Posting on Facebook at the time, the Hatfields said they were “deeply saddened to announce that, despite the public outcry and overwhelming love and support for our gorgeous grassroots music venue ad real ale pub, the developer (our landlord) has issued us with 6 months notice to vacate our home and the business premises that is the Flying Pig in October 2021.”

The couple were due to leave their home of 24 years on October 27, but an 11th hour appeal has been filed with the government’s Planning Inspectorate to preserve the pub. A decision date has not yet been confirmed, but it is expected that a final judgement will be delivered next year.

“A successful appeal will protect and preserve the Flying Pig,” Pace Limited say.

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