Objectors call for bar on pub being converted into a home

Heritage campaigners are objecting to plans to convert a historic former pub into a house.

The Eagle Inn at Skern, Driffield, ceased trading in 2004 but was listed as a Grade II building in 2005, mainly because it was one of only 11 pubs nationally not to incorporate a bar counter or hatch.

It is of interest for the plainness and simplicity of its little altered interior.

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But the building is now in a dilapidated condition and detracts from the attractiveness of the village, according to a planning report by East Yorkshire Council.

Parish councillors have backed the house conversion plan, saying villagers are fed-up with the problem building.

The applicant, Angus Naylor, says the conversion would maintain the internal layout and keep the features which got the building listed.

Council planning officers are urging councillors to back the scheme, saying the building has become an “eyesore” and there is little prospect of it becoming a pub again.

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But pub campaigners, including members of the Campaign for Real Ale, are urging councillors to reject the plans.

Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group, described the Eagle Inn as “one of the last remaining examples of a simple, rural pub with a historic form of pub-planning and operation that has otherwise disappeared from Yorkshire.”

In a letter to the council, he said: “The Eagle Inn may have been closed and awaiting rescue but it remains a potentially viable pub with a vital community role to play.

“As chairman of the Save the Pub Group, I believe that the loss of the Eagle Inn will be a serious blow to the surrounding communities.

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“Community pubs provide the backbone of many communities, encouraging sociable and responsible drinking.”

Mr Mulholland added: “I therefore believe that it is important that the application for change of use of the Eagle Inn should be refused.”

But the council’s report concludes: “The proposed scheme respects the character and architectural and historic interest of the building, and is therefore considered acceptable.”

Councillors meet on Monday, September 5.