A campaign now on to “Save the Cock” at Sarratt is not needed, say the brewers, who own it – because nothing is going to happen to the pub.

Next month, landlord Bert Moore, now 75, is retiring, and rumours have spread that the historical pub might be structurally altered and that beer will no longer be served in the traditional way from handpumps.

Local members of the Campaign for Real Ale, which has made The Cock its pub of the month, met there last week ready to join the regulars in a campaign to preserve the pub as it is.

But the day afterwards, a press officer for Ind Coope, which owns the pub, categorically denied any changes were planned.

Incoming tenant Mr Ted Daniel says he will not be changing The Cock’s character.

“These rumours are so unfounded. There will be very little change and if there is any, it will be for the better.”

It is thought that The Cock could date back as far as the 12th Century. It is said to have a secret passage, going back to the Wars of the Roses, said to run two miles to Rosehall Farm. The pub is even supposed to have a ghost.

[From the Watford Observer of July 5, 1974]