The owner of a pub is selling up to start a new life abroad.

The Fighting Cocks in Horton Kirby is now under new ownership after being sold by outgoing owner Chris Maskery.

The riverside pub was sold through specialist business property adviser, Christie & Co, to new owner Steve Catchpole - an experienced pub owner who also bought the King and Queen pub in East Malling last year.

The Fighting Cocks has previously won a host of awards, receiving Trip Advisor’s Certificate of Excellence in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, as well as the Open Table’s Diner’s Choice Awards also in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

It was the Best Tenanted Pub in the UK in 2010 and the Best Family Pub in the UK in 2014 at the Great British Pub Awards, and was a finalist in the Top 6 Best Pub Gardens in the UK 2017 in The Great British Pub Awards.

Mr Maskery, who has been at the pub for the last nine years, said: “I am happy to have now sold the pub so I can focus on my new life abroad.

"We would be foolish not to have this in our portfolio..." Steve Catchpole

"Not everything was plain sailing, but we got there in the end thanks to James Hughes at Christie & Co.

"In my absence, James has continued to push the sale through and has always been on the other end of the phone when required."

New owner Mr Catchpole added: “My wife Kim and I hadn’t expected to be buying another pub in Kent quite so quickly after the King and Queen but when approached by Christie & Co about the Fighting Cocks we both agreed that we would be foolish not to have this in our portfolio."