Villagers want first option on star’s pub lease
VILLAGERS “should be given the first option” to run actor Neil Morrissey’s pub, it has been claimed.
A community co-operative could soon be formed with a view to bidding for the £95,000 lease of The Old Bramshall Inn.
And readers have been giving their views about the future of the Stone Road pub, just outside Uttoxeter.
Sue Juggins wrote on the Uttoxeter Advertiser and Post and Times Facebook page: “I think they should give the village first option.”
Her comment comes after the lease for the hostelry, which has been closed since March 2020, was put up on the market.
The pub is owned by pub firm Star Pubs & Bars and leased to the With Neil Morrissey Pub Company.
Neither firm has confirmed whether the lease is set to change hands or be sublet by the Line of Duty actor’s firm. But villagers – whose bid is being led by Bramshall man Mike Scott – will have to act fast to put their bid together, with reports potential tenants are already being shown around the pub.
Others who commented on Facebook included Paul Newman, who said of the community bid: “Good luck; hope the pub reopens soon.”
Samantha Brown said she and others in the community had received messages asking if they would like to join the bid.
Mr Scott had earlier told the Burton Mail villagers felt “let down” by what had happened to their pub, which reopened to great fanfare in June 2018, with the actor himself entertaining exclusive guests at a launch night.
It came two-and-a-half years after the village’s other pub, the Robin Hood, burned down in a Christmas Day blaze. Houses are now set to be built in its place.
Mr Scott said the people of Bramshall and the nearby Bramshall Meadows housing estate had supported the pub well when it was open.
John Lakin, however, was sceptical about how well the pub had been used.
He said: “People always moan when pubs close but never support them when they are open.”
Diana Somerton wrote: “All these new houses (at Bramshall Meadows) but not a pub to walk to.
“Fingers crossed someone will take it on.”