Town and gown may soon be able to see pigs fly, as a developer has vowed to reopen the Flying Pig pub.

The developer stated that “pints will be poured as early as possible” at the popular spot, which has been shuttered since 2021, Cambridge Independent has reported.

Located on Hills Road, the pub closed due to a battle over redevelopment plans for Botanic Place, the office block which borders it. The pub’s beer garden is now fenced in by flying pig-adorned hoardings.

The pub, located near Homerton College, was popular among students. Roma, a Homerton student, said that she was “so excited” to hear of the pub’s potential return.

“I feel like the best part of the Flying Pig were the tables that were literally on the street outside […] right by the busiest road, and it wasn’t even comfortable but life was great,” she said.

Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett is said to have met his future guitarist David Gilmour at the Flying Pig in the 1950s.

The pub’s history can be traced back to 1844 when it was known as The Engineer. In the 1980s, the pub was renamed to ‘The Flying Pig’ by landlord Mick Clelford, a pilot who was nicknamed ‘The Pig’.

The redevelopment plans that threaten the pub date back to 2007, when a proposal was submitted that originally involved the establishment’s demolition and the building of offices, houses, and shops.

The pub’s closure in 2021 caused great upset, with nearly 16,000 people signing a petition to keep the pub open. Cambridge’s Strawberry Fair also paid homage to the pub in 2022, calling one of its stages the ‘Flying Pig Stage’.

The stage was described on the event’s website as “Cambridge’s best pub lives on, doing what it does best.”

The updated redevelopment plan was greenlit by the council on November 1, 2023.

Doug Higgins, one of the directors at developer Socius, stated: “The pub on site is outside the scope of this application as we are not proposing any changes to the current consent, which will see it retained and brought back to life, capturing everything that made it a well-loved pub, but within a building that meets modern regulations.”

“We are obligated to open the pub ahead of the office buildings and we will ensure that pints are being poured as early as possible once it is safe to do so,” he added.

An official reopening date for the pub is yet to be announced.