OVER the years, there have been numerous pubs and bars which called the Halstead area home.

However, with the pub business in decline, we have lost many watering holes in Halstead and the surrounding villages over the years.

That’s why we are taking a look back at just some of pubs readers may have fond memories of.

The most recent pub we sadly lost was the Griffin in Parsonage Street, Halstead.

The pub was forced to close last month due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The owners realised they wouldn’t be able to break even and the Griffin roared no more.

The Woodman Inn was also a Halstead pub but shut back in 2015.

It was located on Colchester Road but despite closing it still serves customers... just as a Co-op rather than a pub.

Another Halstead pub to close was the the Bird in Hand on Chapel Hill.

The pub closed back in 2018 and in 2019 there were discussions about converting the building to residential flats.

Up the road in Earls Colne, another pub named the Bird in Hand also closed.

The pub has been on the market since 2017 and has seen multiple failed attempts to have the building bulldozed to make way for a new office complex.

One pub to get a happy ending was the Sugar Loaves pub in Sible Hedingham.

The pub, which was located on Swan Street, was converted in to a special independent school back in 2015.