CLAIMS made about the Crown Inn at a Chiddingfold Parish Council meeting two weeks ago have been refuted by its joint directors, Kevin O'Leary and Raymond Liff. Some villagers at the meeting claimed that the Chiddingfold pub was "going downhill", with staffing disputes and financial problems putting its future in jeopardy. Waverley mayor and Chiddingfold councillor David Inman told the meeting he would look into the matter and promised to write to the chairman of Waverley's licensing committee over the issue. Claims were also made that the directors were planning to sell their business to local travellers and that staff had not been paid. But this week, the pub's two directors contacted The Herald to set the record straight. With regards to concerns about staff, Mr O'Leary said the staffing issue had been blown all out of proportion. "Staff have been paid – they are happy," he said. Mr Liff added: "That we were selling out to local travellers is a rumour. I have no idea where that came from. In the past 18 months we have done more to preserve this building for the local county – it is also a site of historic interest. We have done more in the last 18 months than has been done in the last 18 years. "We recognise it's an important site and have spent a fortune preserving it as an important site. "As to the financial difficulties, like any business we had to pay more than originally planned. We budgeted for £120,000 but ended up spending £400,000 in the first year. We are now in our second year and things are up and running." Mr O'Leary said he had since spoken to Mr Inman about the pub's licence and been reassured that it was not about to be revoked. Mr Liff and Mr O'Leary signed a 20-year lease for the pub from the freehold landlord, Searcys, in September 2005. He told The Herald that, like most new ventures, they did not realise how much work was needed to make the pub a viable business. The first major project for the two directors was to sort out the boiler room. Problems came to light when staff began to feel ill when they were in the area of the boiler room for any length of time. After an inspection it was found that a flue went directly into a chimney that had many years' worth of accumulated debris inside. Mr Liff said: "When the chimney sweep first came to see us, he told us we should shut down the pub. We took 17 bags of rubbish out of the chimney and spent £17,000 to make it right." It was the same story when an electrician took a look at the pub's wiring. According to Mr O'Leary, like the chimney sweep, he told the directors that the pub should be closed. The vast majority of the wiring in the building has since been replaced. Then it was the kitchen's turn to spring a couple of surprises. Mr O'Leary discovered that the kitchen equipment the pair inherited had never been serviced. "A steam oven was only four years old, and when it was looked at by the electrician, it blew up," he said. "It annoys me that people discount what we are doing here." The two men plan to keep renovating and preserving the pub. Mr Liff said: "It's one of those buildings that gets under your skin. We get many tourists - it's what they have always dreamed: inglenook fireplaces etc. "I walk around with them to show them who has stayed here. The building has been standing for the last 800 years or so, and our tenure is a microscopic amount of that time. We feel rather than a business, we are more like curators of a museum. We have spent this money in the first year to put things right, and luckily we don't have to do it twice. People will see that in our 20 years we did what we did to maintain it." Current changes to the Grade I-listed building have been carried out sympathetically, in keeping with the surroundings. Changes include re-upholstering the pub's many chairs, and new curtains. The site is so famous that academics visit the pub because of its history. To help with the building's preservation, the two directors source panes of glass from local glaziers to get the right age for any replacements. The barn, which dates from the 1300s, forms the main structure of the building, with the bulk of the rest added in the 15th century. Additional rooms were added in the 1950s. Legend has it the pub has a ghost. According to Mr Liff, if a candle is snuffed and placed in the fire place, the next morning staff will find it re-lit. "My staff are also convinced they have heard a young girl singing in the Tudor room," said Mr Liff. Another legend is that there is a tunnel that connects St Mary's Church to the pub. Several bibles were found were recently found, one of which is at least 300 years old and will be put on display in a glass cabinet. Mr Inman, who attends Chiddingfold Parish Council as a Waverley representative, told The Herald: "At the last parish council meeting there were certain questions and rumours that concerned residents and the parish council. The parish council is proud of the Crown, they see it as the the jewel in the Crown. I think the chaps [Mr Liff and Mr O'Leary] took over the lease and found that they had quite a bit to do to bring it up to scratch. " At the last parish council meeting, Mr Inman said that he would check with the licencing authority to see if it was concerned about any issues concerning the pub. He said: "At the moment there is no undue concern from Waverley. The Crown has been held in pretty high esteem over the years and people don't want to let it go." According to Mr Liff and Mr O'Leary they are sticking with the pub: "We will keep it going because it deserves to be looked after."