Planners call time on country pub despite appeal by villagers

VILLAGERS are hoping for a change of heart at the 11th hour after planners approved proposals to turn a country pub into five apartments.

Resident Sam Fuller is leading a campaign backed by the Campaign for Real Ale in the hope of changing the mind of Old Mill Brewery, at Snaith, which took the Rose and Crown pub on in Middleton-on-the-Wolds last year.

She said there has been a local tenant lined up, who would be still prepared to take on the pub, which has served the village for 150 years.

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Miss Fuller has raised a petition with over 130 names and started a letter-writing campaign to try and convince the brewery to think again – but has not had a reply.

She said: “It’s a small country pub and very well-used by many factions in the village. We have our football, bowls and crickets teams and the Rose and Crown has always been the pub of choice. The pub didn’t close because of lack of business or interest, it closed because of flood damage to the roof in 2007, and was then never really opened again.”

The pub did open in the summer of 2008 but closed after a couple of weeks when the roof started leaking. It shut in September 2009 for the last time, and was closed when it was taken on by Old Mill Brewery.

Miss Fuller said: “Everybody is very upset about it in the village. It’s so unfair – they promised to open it and then they went and reneged on their promise.

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“There is another pub but our group has always been loyal to the Rose and Crown.”

Alan Canvess, the chairman of the Hull and East Yorkshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, said it was the first time he had experienced a local brewer getting a pub converted into a dwelling in his 21 years experience.

He said: “It is just ridiculous. You might expect a pub to be closed by one of the major pub groups, but not a small regional brewer.

“It is very worrying because we are reliant on the likes of regional brewers to keep the trade going. You expect some pubs to fall by the wayside, however usually there is a justified reason for doing so, but in this instance we are talking about a community asset which the brewery is taking away from locals.”

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But Old Mill Brewery director Paul Wetherell said they had not had a suitable applicant.

He added: “The pub has been closed for a long time.

“We knew it could be turned into houses if it didn’t go as a pub and this is what we have done and got planning permission for, unless something drastically different comes up.”

There have been people in and out but they haven’t made a go of it and we could have had the same problem.

“We are in business, we aren’t here to run places for the sake of the village – although the village does come into it. It’s alright people getting involved now, but they should have supported it previously.”

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The application did not before to the planning committee as there were no objections and the decision was taken by officials.

Edwin Maund, development services manager (East) at East Riding Council, said: “The council has publicised the applications for the Rose and Crown twice, the original application late last year and the re-submitted scheme earlier this year.

“Feedback was received from the local community in Middleton-On-The-Wolds, including the parish council, but no objections were raised.

“As the scheme to convert the public house and outbuildings to five dwellings was considered acceptable, and no objections had been received, the application was approved by planning officers under delegated powers.

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“Officers did take into account the impact of the loss of the public house, but there are two public houses in the village, and conversion to housing was considered to be an appropriate use of the property, which had been closed for some months.”

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