Award-winning wedding venue given permission for new building to replace temporary marquee

The business had applied for permission to add a permanent structure to the main building, instead of the temporary marquee used in recent years.

The application outlined how the Phillips family, which took over the business some 38 years ago, had built it up as a respected restaurant and hotel, before moving into the wedding business.

The statement explained that came after planning permission was granted to use a 17th Century Tithe Barn as a function room in 2002.

Since then it has been recognised as the 'Best Wedding venue in the West Midlands' on five occasions - most recently in December last year.

The application tells how the business aims to host 120 weddings a year, with the wedding business employing 20 people across gardens, accommodation, food production and food service.

A planning statement told how the ability to use the marquee to separate the two elements of the business has been crucial to success.

It said: "The principal reason why the wedding and restaurant elements of the business continue to flourish is the ability to segregate the different clientele and this is only possible because of the existence of the additional space offered by the current marquee.

"This is dedicated to wedding guests. Planning permission was granted for the marquee and toilet block originally in June 2021 for a limited three-year period. This period was extended to June 2026 following the grant of a variation of the time limiting condition.

"Without the marquee or equivalent space, the 70-cover restaurant will inevitably wither and die because the wedding party would then have to populate the restaurant during the day and early evening.

"This will inevitably impact on staffing levels. The marquee has proved to be a real attraction by accommodating the whole Wedding party with its own bar & toilets facilities. This “exclusivity” is one of the main reasons stated by customers why the venue was chosen in a highly competitive market."

It adds: "It has proved to be perfectly positioned for all the pre and post ceremony aspects of a wedding and is tucked away behind the hotel, barely noticeable from the road, within its own walled garden. The proposed replacement building has been positioned on a similar footprint to the marquee and designed to be similarly barely noticeable to public view."

A decision notice from Shropshire Council approving the application says the benefit to the business - and the fact the project is relatively hidden, were both reasons to approve.

It added that the permanent nature of the building would also contain sound better than a marquee.

It said: "The previously accepted benefits to this established rural business and the visual containment of the site would represent very special circumstances of sufficient weight to outweigh the limited harm to the purposes and openness of the Green Belt of the proposed extension.

"The proposed extension would represent an appropriate permanent replacement for the temporary marquee and toilet unit, which was approved to support this established rural business and to assist in ensuring the long-term viability of this Listed Building.

"The impact of the proposed development on the significance of the designated heritage assets would be less than substantial and would be outweighed by the public benefits to the community of the improved facility and the long-term viability of the Listed Building.

"The fabric of the proposed built form would have greater noise attenuation characteristics than the existing fabric marquee and in the light of this and the lawful use of the site, the garden area within which the extension is located being open to patrons of the public house and the building being subject of a premises license, there are considered to be insufficient planning grounds upon which conditions limited the use of the extension hereby approved."