Councillors throw out homes plan at two Shropshire pubs
Plans to turn two country pubs in Shropshire into homes were thrown out by councillors at two separate Shropshire Council meetings.
Applications to change the use of the Lion O Morfe, at Upper Farmcote, near Bridgnorth, and The Squirrel Inn, beside the old A53 at Wollerton, were turned down.
Councillors said they believed both of the buildings could still be used as pubs and to turn them into houses would be a loss of public facilities.
At a planning meeting in Bridgnorth, the decision rested with chairman, Councillor David Evans, after equal votes for and against the application. Councillor Evans stuck to his original decision to go against the recommendation to give the go-ahead.
Councillor Madge Shineton said: “I am extremely disappointed this has come forward. The pub has been closed since 2010 and it is being marketed at a very high price.
“It has adjacent land which could be very appealing so I just feel a bit uncomfortable about supporting this application.”
At a planning meeting in Wem, councillors refused the plans and said they believed the Squirrel Inn could thrive as a pub.
They claimed the 15 months the pub had been on sale was not sufficient enough to find a buyer.
The pub closed in 2010 and applicants Claire Howell and Sarah Mazloom bought it last year.
Comments for: "Councillors throw out homes plan at two Shropshire pubs"
ANDREW FINCH
It always amazes me why the few think that these ex pubs can still be a good and viable business proposition as a public house in 2012, surely our Councillors need to show they are actually living in the same world as the rest of us and realize the public house in every village, hamlet is a thing of the past . A chap nursing the same pint all night and a visit twice a year by the same people who possibly attend church on the same occasions twice a year cant keep a business afloat .
Colin Dodd.
Quite agree with Andrew on this. The Squirrel would make a very nice house, but as a pub it is finished. Just up the road is the Bear, in Hodnet. Accomodation, drinks and meals, and bigger than the Squirrel. I assume the Squirrel closed as it could no longer compete, but the council know more than the people who actually ran it----apparently.
Simon Griffiths
Wake up councillors! Have they been sleeping for the past decade and missed the nationwide decline of the pub industry. In the case of the Squirrel to suggest that 15months advertising is not long enough is preposterous, potential operators clearly concluded it would not succeed as a business that’s why no-one bought it. If properties are left empty they decline rapidly and are vulnerable to vandalism and eventually complete dereliction. What then, after the village has been forced to live with all the negatives of a derelict building for years, eventually it gets knocked down and replaced with something out of character for the area. The owners who said on Shropshire local radio they will restore the property should be congratulated not subjected to unsubstantiated allegations of profiteering from the Parish Council
Ken Adams
What is it with pubs, somehow they are deemed to be the heart of a village, not the school, not the post office, not the local shop, not the police station, just a place where you can buy a controlled mind altering substance.