Punter reveals 'truth' behind vicious pub row after landlords ordered patrons to swap their muddy boots for slippers

Daily Mail​

05-05-2025

A gamekeeper has claimed a new pub landlord ordered him to 'get on your f****** hands and knees' and clean his carpet after he walked in with muddy boots.
Tom Bane claimed the 'unprofessional' behaviour happened when he turned up at the Jolly Farmers in a rural area where people who work the land often head straight for a drink after a day's labour.
Landlord Colin Swindlehurst and his partner Tracy Jones only ran the pub in Ormesby, Norfolk, for two weeks before they were kicked out by the premises' owners as relations with locals plummeted following the dispute with Mr Bane.
Villagers say they were also told to swap wellies for slippers, were sworn at and felt threatened by claims a shotgun was kept on site.
Mr Swindlehurst insisted locals had been put off by his and Ms Jones' 'northern forwardness', as reported last week by MailOnline.
But Mr Bane said: 'The first time I went in, their exact words to me 'You can get on your f****** hands and knees and scrub my carpets you blooded booted c****'.
'They were the most impolite and unprofessional people I think I've ever met in my life.'
He was with Harry Daisley at the time, who ran the pub for nine months until December last year.
Mr Daisley said: 'They were very, very rude. Tracy just fired a hundred Fs and a few Cs at us when we were in our boots. We had just come off the farm.
'A week or so later, she just looked at me and said 'Make sure to tell your friend not to wear his f****** boots'.'
He added: 'Everyone's muddy. When I had the pub, Tom used to come in and bash his boots out at the bar on purpose.
'But what do you expect? Everyone comes in after work. It doesn't matter if it was on a farm or on a building site. We welcomed everyone.'
Mr Swindlehurst denied Mr Bane's version of events, however, telling the Mail: 'I just said 'Do you mind taking your boots off?' What's wrong with that?
'He said 'Well, I don't have to because I bring a lot of my shooting mates in here'. I said 'I'm not bothered either way'.
'He stopped and he had a drink and then left. He ended up stood outside with his drink in the beer garden.
'He came in two days later with his slippers on. He came in three or four times after that.'
Mr Swindlehurst said he had 'no idea' why other locals turned against him afterwards but said: 'Everything's been made up. That's why my solicitors are all over this like a rash. I'm going to [pub owner] Stonegate and I'm going to sue the a*** off them.'
He also said removing muddy boots was 'good manners' and 'common sense' because 'you've got pesticides from fields and farms' which could harm a child if they touched any dirt that came off them.
Explaining he was familiar with countryside issues as his father, Jimmy, was a winner of the International Gundog League Retriever Society Championship, he added: 'I know what I'm talking about.'
Mr Bane admitted he doubted the claims about a shotgun behind the bar.
'That rumour has got to be some hocus-pocus that someone has started,' he said.
'I don't like defending those two but, being a gamekeeper, I know how tight regulations are.'
However, he added a lewd fake number plate behind the bar which had the registration 'Sha 6er' and Mr Swindlehurst's plan to keep a pair of potbellied pigs in the pub garden were also unpopular.
'Everyone was so torn and didn't know what to do. Obviously, not going in was the right thing,' he said.
'The village has done itself a favour by sort of unifying and all standing against that type of behaviour.'
Mr Swindlehurst and Ms Jones, who were previously landlords in the West Country, took over the pub on March 27 and had plans to bring in drinkers with bingo nights, karaoke and a new menu.
But, following the incident with Mr Bane, locals took to the pub's Facebook page and posted angry comments including one that said: 'I'd probably act a bit nicer to all us locals. So far, I'd say you're losing custom rather than gaining any.
'And as for muddy boots, where are we supposed to drink?'
Another wrote: 'Far from a jolly experience. Rude abusive lady behind the bar. Seemed unable to string a sentence together and when she did it was with a tirade of F words thrown in. Ormesby deserves so much better!'
Rumours of the shotgun then began circulating, with another local saying 'I did hear someone was threatened with a gun they kept upstairs apparently'.
By April 1, Stonegate had sent someone from head office to look into the growing crisis.
Mr Swindlehurst said he was out at the time and admitted he lost his temper when he got back to the pub after his partner contacted him to say she had been asked about the gun.
He described storming into the bar 'like a raging bull' - but insisted he remained 'two church pews' from the man at all times.
The pub has gone through three sets of landlords in the past 12 months, leaving locals concerned about when it will stay open for good
'He must have been standing at least 15-20ft away from me,' he said.
'When they said I went to punch him, I said "Hang on, I'm not Stretch Armstrong".'
A few days later the couple received a letter from Stonegate informing them their tenancy had been terminated.
It went on to state the manager had received 'several threatening and abusive messages' after the meeting which had made him feel 'extremely anxious and unwell' - although Mr Swindlehurst claims he did 'nothing but apologise' in the messages.
The pub closed on April 10, with Mr Swindlehurst blaming a culture clash between north and south on the problems.
'At the end of the day, we might have been a bit forward. We're northern,' he said last week.
'I say how it is. I don't do BS. If I think someone is talking BS, I'll tell them to their face. But a lot of people don't like it. It's different up north.
'Down in Devon, it took them about three to four months for them to get used to our forwardness and banter and then they loved it.
'The people in Devon were crying when we left. But we never stood a chance in Ormesby.'
Mr Swindelhurst told the Mail today he and Ms Jones lost £6,500 worth of food when he left the Farmers and all his staff were laid off.
They are now living in a house they own in Portugal and he added: 'I'm not coming back to Britain. Stick it.'
Pub chef Tom Proctor, 21, has defended the couple, saying: 'I can tell you there was no gun pulled out on anyone, there was nothing.
'Everyone was so against Colin and Tracy. All they did was treat me with kindness. They even got me somewhere to stay for the night.
'It's a country pub, so there's bound to be a few bits of bad language over the bar but that's only if you know your customers.'
The pub had a £150,000 revamp in 2021 and is now formally know as The Farmers, although many locals still refer to it by its former name, the Jolly Farmers.
Despite its upbeat name, it has seen three sets of landlords come through its doors in 12 months, with long spells when it remained closed.
A community group called 'Save the (Jolly) Farmers, Ormesby' had been set up and recently succeeded in a bid to have it nominated as an Asset of Community Value.
Under the system, a local authority recognises a building or piece of land that is vital to the community and lists it to prevent a change of use or demolition.
Kathryn Wendt, chairman of Ormesby St Margaret with Scratby Parish Council, said: 'It's very important because it's the only pub in the village. All the other pubs in the village have closed. It was a community hub for quizzes and meet-ups.
'The parish council supported the application for Asset of Community Value and being able to keep the pub open but it's now up to the owners what they do about it.'
The pub is being advertised on Stonegate's website with rent of just over £800 per week and a forecast annual turnover of around £620,000.
The entry states the 'delightful pub', set in a village with 2,750 residents, has a 'well-equipped commercial kitchen [and] delightful garden and patio areas'.
A spokesperson for Stonegate Group said previously: 'We can confirm that we have terminated the agreement with the former publican of the Jolly Farmer in Ormesby St Margaret in accordance with our contractual terms.
'This decision was made due to multiple incidents of unacceptable behaviour towards both Stonegate colleagues and the pub's guests, which we will not tolerate.
'Consequently, the Jolly Farmer has been temporarily closed while we recruit for a new publican. We are committed to reopening the pub under new management as soon as possible.'