Reports that this pub has now been bought by Brakspears and will be a tied house. (August 2001).

Older reports follow:

Sadly this well-respected pub closed on 30 May 2000. The publicans Colin & Val retired. The pub re-opened at the end of June 2000. Virginia Silvesta writes on 28 July 2000:

This pub has reopened but does not seem likely at the present time to make much of a go of it. The beers are now all supplied through some tie-in arrangement, presumably with whoever funded the refurbishment. Although some are OK (eg Ballards), others are pretty ordinary and a far cry from this pub's former glory. The menu has also changed, is less extensive and less appealing; and when we ate there, they served our dinner to another table! On another occasion, we were the only customers at 8pm on a Friday night.

She wrote in again, on 13 August 2000:

You may be interested to know that the Blackwood Arms has changed landlord yet again! This time after a further brief closure it has reverted to a landlord from some (10?) years ago, some way up the sub-lessee chain. We now have good beers back, and a very short menu of simple food. Customer levels are improving but still very low. Worth a revisit before any further change, which I imagine is highly likely.

Another reader, Julian Witor, writes on 7 August 2000:

New landlord at The Blackwood Arms, Littleworth Common as of early August, 2000. Could be on the right track again after the last two dismal years. New landlord willing to get in the real ales you want. Still quiet and informal with an enthusiast runnning the place. Haven't tried the food yet but hope it's back to the good old garlic mushrooms with French bread, cumberland sausage with egg chips and beans, home made pies of old.

There are unconfirmed reports that Green King invested in the refurbishing, and that the new landlord must buy a certain amount from the brewery. This is what we said before it was shut down in May 2000: