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HereforHerefordd H OPVINE The Magazine of the Herefordshire Branch of CAMRA Issue No 69 Spring 2018 Free CAMRA GOES TO COLLEGE YE OLDE SPRING PUB OF THE SEASON GOING, GOING...TO BE DEMOLISHED SECRET PUB RE-OPENING LAMB SURVIVES CLOSE SHAVE NEW COMMUNITY-OWNED PUB? THREE NEW MICRO-PUBS LIVES FONDLY REMEMBERED Have you used the UK’s BUSINESS RATES CAMPAIGN best pub website yet? DINMORE HILL WALK LATEST BEER,1 CIDER & PUB NEWS Advertisement The Boot Inn, Orleton Help us save this beautiful village pub The Boot Inn in Orleton is under threat of This is an opportunity for you to own (part development. It was closed in July 2017 of) a pub by buying shares - which will pay against the wishes of the community. interest. A real living investment to enjoy! For more information and the full The good news is that there is a Community prospectus please go to the website. Bid to buy The Boot and return it to the heart of the community, where it has The Boot has always been a thriving always been a busy and popular village pub business and will be again with your with restaurant. support. If you would like to invest please make your Help us by joining our campaign, like our pledge as soon as possible and before the Facebook page, and if you would like to end of March, investment will be available invest then pledge your support. after this date. Contact The Boot Inn community bid Facebook - The Community Boot Inn Email - [email protected] - [email protected] - [email protected] www.thecommunitybootinn.co.uk 2 PUB CAMPAIGN: VOLUNTEER INN THE VOLUNTEER’S DARKEST HOUR Herefordshire Council Planning Committee vote to demolish pub in the face of strong opposition The Volunteer Inn is the last and only pub in Marden. Yet, despite this fact, back on the 17th January, Herefordshire Council Planning Com- mittee voted in favour of an application that will see the ACV-listed village inn closed and de- molished - something that might happen as soon as this summer. Unsurprisingly, the locals aren’t at all pleased. It was in the autumn of 2016 that the commu- nity of Marden first became aware of a suite of four related planning applications submitted to Herefordshire Council planners by local firm, S & A Produce. Three of the applications related to a development of housing, agricultural and Destined for the wrecking ball office buildings in the village, whilst one focused - inside the doomed Volunteer Inn solely on the village’s pub – the Volunteer Inn, single letter of support for what was being pro- which was temporarily closed at that time (it has posed. It appeared that everyone except S & A since successfully re-opened). The plan was to Produce was quite happy to stick with the Volun- demolish the pub and replace it with a new- teer Inn. Why was this? build “family pub” on an alternative site nearby. This created quite a stir, and it wasn’t long be- Dining on the Ceiling fore the phones at Herefordshire CAMRA’s HQ There’s an old saying about the devil being in bunker were ringing. the detail, and doesn’t that ever apply in this Bigger and Better case. It was a crucial absence of detail on some fundamental aspects of the proposed replace- On first inspection the plans submitted seemed ment pub’s design and function that gave seri- to be a spiffing idea: a case of out with the old ous cause for concern. The new so-called and in with the new. Whilst the Volunteer Inn “family pub” is to focus on dining. Fair enough, would be left to the wrecking ball, on the sur- many village pubs do, but the plans for the lay- face of it, the new pub appeared to be more out of the interior public area showed 35 tables, than a worthy replacement. Its interior is bigger about which were set a total of 140 chairs. The and better configured; it would have a larger tables and chairs were so crammed in, that it garden; more parking; better catering provision, would have come as little surprise to discover and eight letting rooms upstairs. It even looks to they were also planning to nail tables and be an attractive building, judging from the exte- chairs onto the walls and ceiling as well! There rior design visuals provided with the application. wasn’t an inch of space remaining that could However, the pièce de résistance is undoubt- reasonably accommodate any of the trappings edly the planned provision of a brewhouse. and activities one might normally expect to find What’s not to like? in a typical village pub: such as for games, so- One might think CAMRA would be completely cial gatherings, meetings - or just standing at bonkers to object to such a proposition, but that the bar having a drink with friends. This place is was precisely what we did. And we were not going to be a gastro-pub - full stop - and noth- alone. There were over fifty written objections to ing else. As designed, it isn’t fit-for-purpose as a the proposal, and Herefordshire Council’s own replacement village pub. That is if it ever gets Historic Buildings and Economic Development built, of course. Officers each objected to the proposals too. In a spirit of seeking co-operation, CAMRA Moreover, it spoke volumes that there wasn’t a promptly sought clarity via the planners on a 3 PUB CAMPAIGN: VOLUNTEER INN number of matters regarding the interior design and co-operation. This vacuum of information and function and, specifically, as to the new then provides room for unhelpful rumour and pub’s ability to be able to accommodate the speculation to circulate, with one less charita- reasonable needs of the local community - as ble comment suggesting the new pub, if ever the Volunteer Inn does today. However, no built, would be no more than a social club for S such assurances were forthcoming. All that & A Produce staff. came back was a curt statement that the run- ning and management of the pub was not a In a very detailed and thorough 38-page report planning matter (that’s telling ‘em!), then later to the planning committee, the planning officer the 35 tables and 140 chairs magically disap- set out the issues. Despite Herefordshire Coun- peared from the plans that would ultimately be cil’s own Economic Development Officer stating put in front of the planning committee! that there was no evidence presented that the replacement pub could meet the needs of the Revolting Peasants community, and the council’s Historic Buildings In later correspondence to the planners, S & A Officer adding that the Volunteer Inn was a sig- Produce stated their surprise and disappoint- nificant heritage asset (for which he believed ment with the reaction to their plans from so- retention and sympathetic extension should be called “third parties” (a euphemism they seem to a priority instead) the planning officer’s recom- apply to the local community). You can almost mendation to the planning committee was for feel the self-righteous indignation leaping out approval. from the page, when one reads how the new These matters were briefly discussed by the pub project is being promoted by Mr John Da- planning committee ahead of the vote, as too vies of S & A Produce himself as, quote: “a per- was the fact there was to be absolutely no re- sonal philanthropic gesture for the benefit of the quirement placed on S & A Produce to ever community.” It accuses those same “third par- build the replacement pub. However, a majority ties” of being “critical” and “unappreciative”, and of councillors were content to take it at face of raising “trivial” and “frivolous” objections. One value that it would appear at some point in the can imagine the rage…perhaps only Marie An- future unknown, and the application was ap- toinette could have put it better: How dare the proved by 7 votes to 4, with one abstention. peasants revolt! I’m giving them a brand new Thus the Volunteer Inn was condemned to be- village pub! But is this really the case? If some- come no more than rubble and memories. one was really going to build a community a new pub, wouldn’t they speak to them about it? Snatching Defeat from the Victory Why the stonewalling? What is there to be afraid This is a very disappointing outcome. But what of? What is it that they have to hide? is more disappointing was that one of the votes It has been this persistent unwillingness of S & in favour was from Councillor J L V Kenyon, A Produce to discuss the application with any- who will be better known to many Hopvine one in the local community that has created ill- readers as Jim Kenyon - the erstwhile Mayor of felling and mistrust. There has been absolutely Hereford and owner-operator of both the Here- no effort at all to consult with residents, the ford Brewery and the city’s Victory pub. Jim objectors or the parish council on the plans at clearly believes this new pub will be built, and any point. Moreover, on the 26th November that it will work. We genuinely hope that we are 2016, there was a well-attended public meet- wrong and that he has made the right call, as ing at Marden Village Hall, organised by the doubtless will the residents of Marden - who are parish council, to discuss the planning applica- shortly to bear witness to the closure and tions (including that for the Volunteer Inn).