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Ever dreamed of opening your own country pub? This is what you should know
Annoushka Ducas of the 208-year-old pub she and her husband, John Ayton, bought at the end of last year. A former blacksmith’s, The Horse & Groom in East Ashling, West Sussex, was converted into a public house in 1812 as a drinking den for the Irish labourers who were building a number of grand country houses nearby - one of which has been home to Ducas, Ayton and their four children for the last 26 years. It was their local, a short walk through fields from their sprawling Georgian mansion, but not one they’d frequent. “It had gotten very sorry; it was known as the Doom & Gloom,” says Ayton.
