Cock, Broom

This village pub has changed over the years and now has five small rooms. It still has no bar counter - and is one of only eight traditional pubs left in the whole of the UK without a bar counter, the other Heritage Pubs being the North Star, Steventon, Oxfordshire; Tuckers Grave, Faulkland, Somerset; Rose & Crown, Huish Episcopi, Somerset; Kings Head, Laxfield, Suffolk; Red Lion Ampney St Peter Gloucs, Crooked Billet, Stoke Row, Oxfordshire and Manor Arms, Rushall, West Midlands.

The Cock occupies a mid-19th-century row of cottages converted into alehouse and later a pub. Owned by Ballards, it was sold to Wells & Winch of Biggleswade, who were taken over by Greene King in 1961. It has grown from a single room with beer fetched from the cellar but retains a sense of its traditional character. At one time the only public drinking area was the left-hand room (now the games room with table skittles). Drinks were then brought, as they still are, from the top of the steps.

The room on the right-hand side was formerly a shop - hence the cupboards either side of the fireplace. This is the classic room in the pub with two-thirds height panelling. As you enter the pub from the front door, you encounter a highly distinctive display of woodwork - old lapped boarding on the right and further back a set of cupboards; the panelling on the left, however, is not so old, having taken its present form about 1980 (which is also the date of the panelling in the games room) and it was all added by local carpenter, Richard Beasley.

The uneven red-tiled corridor leads to the rear part where, on the right, a small snug has been brought into use in modern times. It has a red-tile floor, panelled walls, bench seating and an early 20th-century fireplace. Changes were made just outside this room in 1977 when the sink used for cleaning glasses was removed. Further alterations in the 1990s to bring the toilets inside also created a public drinking area in front of the entrance to the cellar servery. This has greatly expanded the size of the pub but has not destroyed the atmosphere of the old front rooms. At the rear left is a dining room that came into use in the 1990s.