Leaving at Christmas...

It's time to share more widely our 'big' news - we are going to be leaving The Duke at Christmas.

We are really sad to go - we have enjoyed every moment here over the last year and a half and been humbled by the warm welcome and support the pub has had since we arrived in May 2024.

Sally and Roy, current landlords at The Duke

Our last trading day will be 24 December - when we will have a big leaving party - so cancel your plans and come and join us! More details will follow, but needless to say there will be live music and plenty of beer!

Until then, we have packed the diary with lots of bands, music bingo, quizzes, paint n sip, Mid Week Blues, Jam Nights and other events over the coming months. So keep an eye on here and our socials for everything that's coming up and don't miss out!

The full explanation for our departure and plans for some of our regular events such as the much-loved Ipswich Jam Nights are in the FAQs below. Rest assured they will all find good homes whilst the next chapter for The Duke is decided.

We are also planning to make a small change to our opening hours starting in November. We will be closed on Sundays throughout the month, to enable us to transition to working full time 'day jobs' during the week. As we already close on Mondays, this will give us the time needed to recharge. It's also traditionally our quietest day of the week, so we hope it will cause minimum disruption. We will be opening again on Sundays in December, as we have some great Christmas lunch and music plans to get you in the festive spirit, which will also give you a last chance to get one of Roy's roasts!

To give you a taster of what's to come before we go...

• Keith Kenny all the way from the USA 8 October

• Lucky No 7 on 10 October

• Smokin' Ponies country band 11 October

• Back Porch 17 October

• Erin Harpe 22 October

• Below 59 24 October

• Guilty Secret 25 October

• Sensational 70s quiz with Foz and Dave 26 October

• Paint n Sip 29 October

• Halloween with Harry Isaac Presley 31 October

• The Stetsons 1 November

• Mike Lenson Band 7 November

• Albion Breaks 8 November

• Smashed Banana 14 November

• John Skelt DJ 21 November

• The Lightening Club 22 November

• Paint n sip 25 November

• Helen and the Neighbourhood Dogs 28 November

• SYYG 29 November

• Angry Beaver 6 December

• Sparko Comes Back Home 10 December

• Admiral Radish 12 December

• Sons of Illionois and Christmas Roast 14 December

• Uncool Sam 20 December

• Back Porch and Christmas Roast 21 December

FAQs

Why are you are leaving The Duke?

We don’t want to go! And for once it is not a story of the business failing due to the current economic headwinds (although they don't make it easy!) The reason is we must move back down to Devon in January to live in our pub there (which we own), as it will otherwise be empty.

What happened to the pub in Devon?

We have had two tenant landlords there over the last 18 months, and both have failed. We must go and live in the building to maintain it and keep the (very expensive) insurance policy valid!

What is going to happen to The Duke?

The simple answer is we don’t know. The building owners will decide its next chapter and if we find out more before we leave, we will of course let you know.

When’s your last day?

Our last day trading here will be 24 December (we’re planning a big leaving party that night, so cancel your plans!) Up until this date, we have lots of bands and events lined up!

Why don’t you stay and get someone else to take on your pub in Devon?

We have looked at this option, but with two failed tenants in 18 months and now being owed over £20,000 in unpaid rent and other costs, we can’t risk it happening again. It also costs us £2,000 per month to keep the building ticking over whilst it’s not trading and the failed tenants have not kept up with the maintenance the building needs, so we must go and make a start on those works.

What will happen to the regular music that happens at The Duke?

The weekly Ipswich Jam Night is moving to The Salutation in town from January. The Mid Week Blues and Jazz Jam will also find new homes – we will share as soon as we know where they are off to. They will ALL continue as usual with us until the end of this year, so do come down and see them before we go!

What about your staff?

We have one part-time member of staff, Charlie, who will be looking for a new role from January and we’ll be happy to provide some excellent references for him!

Didn’t you move up to Suffolk to be near your family?

Yes, we did. Sadly, our hand has been forced to move back to the West Country (not that we’re complaining, it’s a lovely part of the world to live). We will be back to visit the family as often as possible though, as we’re going back to our old ‘day jobs’ when we return, so will have more opportunities to travel and get away for the weekend. So don’t be surprised if you see us out in the town at some point!

You are changing your opening hours before you go, why is that?

As mentioned above, we were both in other careers before we bought our pub in Devon and will be going back to these jobs when we move. To do this, we are going to have a transitional stage where we are doing both our day jobs 9-5 and running the Duke in the evenings. To be sure we don’t work ourselves to exhaustion, we have made the decision to close the pub on Sundays (apart from a few exceptions in December) in the run up to Christmas. As a music/entertainment pub, Sundays have always been one of our quietest days of the week anyway, so we hope it won’t inconvenience too many of you lovely customers! We shut on Mondays already, so this will give us a ‘weekend.’ The Sunday closures will start from 1 November.

We will be really sad to say goodbye to The Duke, we have loved our time here and made some awesome friends. As mentioned, we will be back to visit Ipswich to see family and enjoy the fantastic live music scene here, the great pubs and the friendly faces. We’ll be leaving a little part of our hearts here and will be back to rekindle those connections whenever we can!