Battle 'to the bitter end' over plans to turn 210-year-old pub into housing

Villagers outside the pub on New Year's Eve Picture: Gary Longbottom

Around 20 objections have gone in against turning the 210-year-old George and Dragon, the only pub in the tiny coastal village of Holmpton, into three homes and an apartment, while keeping part of the ground floor as a pub.

Residents are sceptical that the "new" pub - which they say will only take up a quarter of the original floor plan - will be viable.

One objector wrote: "To have a smaller pub with a tiny cellar and no living quarters is ridiculous and will sit vacant for many years to come.

"On the other hand the pub as it stands (till it was closed by the current owner) is/was a thriving business and the heart of the village."

A design and access statement posted on East Riding Council's planning portal says the aim is to keep part of the ground floor "as a community asset which would align with the size of the local population", potentially being used as a cafe in the day and pub at night.

It says the size of the current pub is "unsustainable" and expectations that it would be busy seven days a week are "unrealistic".

Hugh Reid, a regular at the pub until it shut in 2017, said they would fight the latest plans "to the bitter end".

He said: "The proposals wouldn't work, not counting Covid. There isn't room to sit people down comfortably and eat.

"You couldn't have a dart board, a pool table, there's no room unless you are going to be satisfied with four or five customers at a time."

Rejecting plans to turn the pub into a single dwelling in February, Inspector John Dowsett concluded that it would result in the loss of community facilties.

Owner Charles Brokenbrow had appealed to the Planning Inspectorate after East Riding councillors refused his application in November 2018.

Mr Brokenbrow told The Yorkshire Post in December that two previous owners had lost large sums of money, adding: "The problem was people just think you should spend money which isn’t their money.

"It wasn’t about making money but I couldn’t afford to keep losing money either."