The opening of a trendy 'Creamery' next to the town's train station has plunged a Somerset community into civil war - as the owners are accused of wanting to attract only 'Londoners and VIPs' rather than ordinary locals.
The Creamery Café in Castle Cary, which opened earlier this year, is so achingly hip it even spells cider with a 'y' and offers dishes which emphasise a trendy artisan ethos - at a price.
But the ambitious opening has alienated many less well off locals as it comes shortly after the disappearance of a van which sold things like coffee and burgers at much more affordable prices.
Although there's not thought to be any connection between the van going and the café opening, it has nevertheless riled many locals who cannot afford the prices there.
Certainly, unlike its humble mobile predecessor, The Creamery is not bog-standard station catering: a coffee and croissant costing a central London wallet squeezing £6.80.
The Creamery Café which opened earlier this year next to Castle Cary train station
The café is so achingly hip it even spells cider with a 'y' and offers dishes which emphasise a trendy artisan ethos
Pip Francis, 37, who manages The George, says she 'personally don't like what's going on' in the village
While a bacon buttie and a tea will set you back £8.40 which any self respecting Somerset farmer or local will baulk at no matter how tasty it is.
However, for that price you can watch the trendy baristas lovingly craft your cappuccino as you wait, while admiring the creamery staff hard at work at the mozzarella vats.
Or if you have time while waiting for your train you could tuck into one of the £12 focaccia and mozzarella starters - again perhaps not the meal of choice for locals.
And indeed it's what one told MailOnline: 'It's all so achingly hipster. I'm not paying almost a tenner for a tea and bacon sarnie while waiting for a train.
'It's all too gentrified for round here. We just want something simple a mug of tea and a ham roll not all this trendy stuff.'
Sleepy Castle Cary - made famous as the station for Glastonbury Festival - with a population of 2,276 and which can trace its origins to just after the Norman invasion of 1066 is now a village divided.
On one half are those in favour of South African communications entrepreneur Koos Bekker and his wife Karen Roos who arrived ten years ago, bought the rural Hadspen House and transformed it into a celebrity haunt called The Newt.
With a humble bed and breakfast setting you back an eye watering £785 a night it's easy to see that the good citizens of Castle Cary are not the main guests. Instead, it attracts the likes of Elton John who stayed while performing at Glastonbury last year.
The singer's driver instead stayed at The George on the village High Street - with rooms at a more reasonable £120 a night - a quaint olde worlde pub which has just been added to the property collection of Bekker and Roos.
The Creamery is not bog-standard station catering: a coffee and croissant costing a central London wallet squeezing £6.80.
A bacon buttie and a tea will set you back £8.40 at the Creamery - which any self respecting Somerset farmer or local will baulk at no matter how tasty it is
Those who have time time whilst waiting for their train could tuck into one of the establishment's £12 focaccia and mozzarella starters
Castle Cary - made famous as the station for Glastonbury Festival - has a population of 2,276 and traces its origins to just after the Norman invasion of 1066
The Sunday Times food critic Charlotte Ivers wrote a scathing piece on the establishment (right) after her £96 lunch there
This is where the division started in the village, as many were up in arms after it was announced the pub had been bought and would close in December 2025 for a 'major refurbishment'.
One local at the bar grumbled: 'It's gone down like a broken combine harvester - no one is happy with it. This is a real locals place and the news it's been bought out by the people at The Newt hasn't gone down well.
'They have come in and bought up a few places in the high street and the fear is he will just make the pub into a trendy hotel out of the price of ordinary tourists and just price everything up.
'Youngsters can't afford to buy around here and most of the locals can't afford the property prices because it's just inaccessible to them.
'The only people buying are people from London because the prices have rocketed.'
According to property websites, average prices in Castle Cary are £352,000 which is 23.9 percent higher than the national average of £284,464.
Besides The George, the building next door has also been bought by the couple, as well as a clothing boutique, a wine store and deli and a grocery shop on the outskirts of the village.
Pip Francis, 37, who manages The George, said: 'Do you want my honest opinion? I think what's happening is s***.
'I personally don't like what's going on and the view is split 50/50 in the village but the locals who come in the pub just aren't happy.
'When they came nine years ago the promise was they would promise work for locals and attract tourists but they have just expanded, bought anything they can and turned it into a monopoly.
'Businesses in the buildings they have bought have had to look for new premises and some of them have been there for years.'
Pip added: 'It's all happened so suddenly and there has been no guarantee of what will happen to the workers but I'm going to another pub. I don't want anything to do with them.
'I've worked to make this a real community led pub and now we just don't know what the future will hold.'
The George (pictured) had been bought and would close in December 2025 for a 'major refurbishment'
Residents in the village of Castle Cary are divided on the changes happening in the area
The opening of The Creamery has alienated many less well off locals as it comes shortly after the disappearance of a van which sold things like coffee and burgers at much more affordable prices
Simon Gilmore wrote on social media below an announcement of the closure: 'I concede business is business but it's becoming very noticeable how much The Newt has infiltrated and taken over the area. Very unhealthy in my view.'
While another local on the High Street told MailOnline: 'They are buying up more and more properties and that is undoubtedly going to affect and canker the community.
'It will squeeze out the local independent retailers who have been here for years and gentrify the place just for rich visitors making the place a tourist trap with no community spirit.
'Most people think he's trying to make himself the Lord of the Manor, the Lord of Castle Cary if you like and it's my kids who are being priced out of buying a place.'
Disgruntled local Robert Jones, 55, said: 'I've been drinking in The George for years and it's sad that it's been bought out because I know it will just be out of our price range when it reopens.
'I can't see it being affordable for sensa 138 the likes of me and my mates - especially if the prices at The Newt and their other place The Creamery are anything to go by.
'They need to remember this is Somerset not some trendy part of London, we have to live here all year round and it shouldn't be geared just for a few rich people in the summer.'
The Creamery has not only upset locals. Most recently, The Sunday Times food critic Charlotte Ivers wrote a scathing piece on the establishment after her £96 lunch there, which is the talk of local Somerset Facebook groups.
She described how 'posh places had popped up squeezing out local favourites' and these had attracted 'moneyed twits from London and none of the locals could afford to walk down the high street' with the venue getting a two out of five.
Commenting on the article Caroline Kenmore wrote: '£96 for a meal for 2? Without alcohol! Not exactly for popping in and grabbing a bite.
One local claimed that what The Creamery was doing was 'great for the village'
According to property websites, average prices in Castle Cary are £352,000 which is 23.9 percent higher than the national average of £284,464
'Unless money isn't a problem for you. Thank you to the writer for highlighting the issue of wealthy foreign landowners imposing their pretentions on the local environment.'
However not all the locals are up in arms - one who would give his name only as Dan, said: 'I think what they are doing is great for the village.
'You are always going to get people grumbling and moaning but if it brings money and tourists down here what's the problem?
'Some people need to realise that this is progress and it's not the 1950s and sleepy rural Somerset down here. We need to wake up and get real because if we don't we will be left behind.'
Martin Osborne said: 'It's nice the owner of The Newt is spending money and making it look tidy.
'Many people are stuck in their old ways and don't like change and certainly like to have a good old moan.'
London
The Creamery Café in Castle Cary, which opened earlier this year, is so achingly hip it even spells cider with a 'y' and offers dishes which emphasise a trendy artisan ethos - at a price.
But the ambitious opening has alienated many less well off locals as it comes shortly after the disappearance of a van which sold things like coffee and burgers at much more affordable prices.
Although there's not thought to be any connection between the van going and the café opening, it has nevertheless riled many locals who cannot afford the prices there.
Certainly, unlike its humble mobile predecessor, The Creamery is not bog-standard station catering: a coffee and croissant costing a central London wallet squeezing £6.80.
The Creamery Café which opened earlier this year next to Castle Cary train station
The café is so achingly hip it even spells cider with a 'y' and offers dishes which emphasise a trendy artisan ethos
Pip Francis, 37, who manages The George, says she 'personally don't like what's going on' in the village
While a bacon buttie and a tea will set you back £8.40 which any self respecting Somerset farmer or local will baulk at no matter how tasty it is.
However, for that price you can watch the trendy baristas lovingly craft your cappuccino as you wait, while admiring the creamery staff hard at work at the mozzarella vats.
Or if you have time while waiting for your train you could tuck into one of the £12 focaccia and mozzarella starters - again perhaps not the meal of choice for locals.
And indeed it's what one told MailOnline: 'It's all so achingly hipster. I'm not paying almost a tenner for a tea and bacon sarnie while waiting for a train.
'It's all too gentrified for round here. We just want something simple a mug of tea and a ham roll not all this trendy stuff.'
Sleepy Castle Cary - made famous as the station for Glastonbury Festival - with a population of 2,276 and which can trace its origins to just after the Norman invasion of 1066 is now a village divided.
On one half are those in favour of South African communications entrepreneur Koos Bekker and his wife Karen Roos who arrived ten years ago, bought the rural Hadspen House and transformed it into a celebrity haunt called The Newt.
With a humble bed and breakfast setting you back an eye watering £785 a night it's easy to see that the good citizens of Castle Cary are not the main guests. Instead, it attracts the likes of Elton John who stayed while performing at Glastonbury last year.
The singer's driver instead stayed at The George on the village High Street - with rooms at a more reasonable £120 a night - a quaint olde worlde pub which has just been added to the property collection of Bekker and Roos.
The Creamery is not bog-standard station catering: a coffee and croissant costing a central London wallet squeezing £6.80.
A bacon buttie and a tea will set you back £8.40 at the Creamery - which any self respecting Somerset farmer or local will baulk at no matter how tasty it is
Those who have time time whilst waiting for their train could tuck into one of the establishment's £12 focaccia and mozzarella starters
Castle Cary - made famous as the station for Glastonbury Festival - has a population of 2,276 and traces its origins to just after the Norman invasion of 1066
The Sunday Times food critic Charlotte Ivers wrote a scathing piece on the establishment (right) after her £96 lunch there
This is where the division started in the village, as many were up in arms after it was announced the pub had been bought and would close in December 2025 for a 'major refurbishment'.
One local at the bar grumbled: 'It's gone down like a broken combine harvester - no one is happy with it. This is a real locals place and the news it's been bought out by the people at The Newt hasn't gone down well.
'They have come in and bought up a few places in the high street and the fear is he will just make the pub into a trendy hotel out of the price of ordinary tourists and just price everything up.
'Youngsters can't afford to buy around here and most of the locals can't afford the property prices because it's just inaccessible to them.
'The only people buying are people from London because the prices have rocketed.'
According to property websites, average prices in Castle Cary are £352,000 which is 23.9 percent higher than the national average of £284,464.
Besides The George, the building next door has also been bought by the couple, as well as a clothing boutique, a wine store and deli and a grocery shop on the outskirts of the village.
Pip Francis, 37, who manages The George, said: 'Do you want my honest opinion? I think what's happening is s***.
'I personally don't like what's going on and the view is split 50/50 in the village but the locals who come in the pub just aren't happy.
'When they came nine years ago the promise was they would promise work for locals and attract tourists but they have just expanded, bought anything they can and turned it into a monopoly.
'Businesses in the buildings they have bought have had to look for new premises and some of them have been there for years.'
Pip added: 'It's all happened so suddenly and there has been no guarantee of what will happen to the workers but I'm going to another pub. I don't want anything to do with them.
'I've worked to make this a real community led pub and now we just don't know what the future will hold.'
The George (pictured) had been bought and would close in December 2025 for a 'major refurbishment'
Residents in the village of Castle Cary are divided on the changes happening in the area
The opening of The Creamery has alienated many less well off locals as it comes shortly after the disappearance of a van which sold things like coffee and burgers at much more affordable prices
Simon Gilmore wrote on social media below an announcement of the closure: 'I concede business is business but it's becoming very noticeable how much The Newt has infiltrated and taken over the area. Very unhealthy in my view.'
While another local on the High Street told MailOnline: 'They are buying up more and more properties and that is undoubtedly going to affect and canker the community.
'It will squeeze out the local independent retailers who have been here for years and gentrify the place just for rich visitors making the place a tourist trap with no community spirit.
'Most people think he's trying to make himself the Lord of the Manor, the Lord of Castle Cary if you like and it's my kids who are being priced out of buying a place.'
Disgruntled local Robert Jones, 55, said: 'I've been drinking in The George for years and it's sad that it's been bought out because I know it will just be out of our price range when it reopens.
'I can't see it being affordable for sensa 138 the likes of me and my mates - especially if the prices at The Newt and their other place The Creamery are anything to go by.
'They need to remember this is Somerset not some trendy part of London, we have to live here all year round and it shouldn't be geared just for a few rich people in the summer.'
The Creamery has not only upset locals. Most recently, The Sunday Times food critic Charlotte Ivers wrote a scathing piece on the establishment after her £96 lunch there, which is the talk of local Somerset Facebook groups.
She described how 'posh places had popped up squeezing out local favourites' and these had attracted 'moneyed twits from London and none of the locals could afford to walk down the high street' with the venue getting a two out of five.
Commenting on the article Caroline Kenmore wrote: '£96 for a meal for 2? Without alcohol! Not exactly for popping in and grabbing a bite.
One local claimed that what The Creamery was doing was 'great for the village'
According to property websites, average prices in Castle Cary are £352,000 which is 23.9 percent higher than the national average of £284,464
'Unless money isn't a problem for you. Thank you to the writer for highlighting the issue of wealthy foreign landowners imposing their pretentions on the local environment.'
However not all the locals are up in arms - one who would give his name only as Dan, said: 'I think what they are doing is great for the village.
'You are always going to get people grumbling and moaning but if it brings money and tourists down here what's the problem?
'Some people need to realise that this is progress and it's not the 1950s and sleepy rural Somerset down here. We need to wake up and get real because if we don't we will be left behind.'
Martin Osborne said: 'It's nice the owner of The Newt is spending money and making it look tidy.
'Many people are stuck in their old ways and don't like change and certainly like to have a good old moan.'
London