Controversial Essex pub where racist dolls seized put up for sale by owners

29 December 2023 , 20:06

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The White Hart, in Grays, Essex, has been put up for sale (Image: PA)

A controversial pub at the centre of a row over its open display of racist dolls earlier this year has been put up for sale for more than half a million pounds.

The White Hart Inn in Grays, Essex, closed this year following a hate crime investigation into the Grade-II listed building. Police officers stormed the pub in April and seized 15 of the dolls from behind the bar. At the time landlady Benice Ryley vowed to defy the authorities' wishes and said she would place more of the dolls on display.

The building was targeted by vandalism in the aftermath of the incident, with five windows damaged and graffiti reportedly left outside. Soon afterwards Benice and her husband Chris said they would retire and the pub would close following a boycott by brewers and firms servicing the site.

Video footage at the time showed Essex Police officers dramatically raiding the pub and confiscating the dolls which sat in a display behind the bar. The Crown Prosecution Service later decided the legal case for a prosecution was not met, and that the pub would face no further action.

Mrs Ryley said the dolls had been gifted to them by customers over the years, and argued their confiscation amounted to taking away 'the history of this country'. But the Ryleys have now finally decided to sell the pub, which estate agents Savills describe as boasting 0.36 acres, ten letting rooms, a car park for 12 vehicles, a function room and a large beer garden.

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Police confiscating the dolls earlier this year (Benice Ryley / SWNS)

In May the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) said would no longer be entered in their Good Beer Guide, saying it was "baffling any pub would choose to discriminate against customers."

Previously confirming the closure, Benice told Thurrock NubNews that felt she had "had enough" following the pull-outs and public reaction to the dolls and said she was "annoyed and upset" at the pressure on her. She also criticised the police for their response, who she said has "ruined us" and "ruined our name".

Antony Clements-Thrower