City clears way for its first community owned and run pub

OFFICERS are recommending approval of plans to keep a pub “with all its original features in place for the benefit of the community”.

Hull Community Pub Society hopes The New Clarence, which closed last June, will become the city’s first community owned and run pub and will be used as a live music venue and meeting space.

The society – which has raised more than £450,000 towards bringing the pub back into use – wants to install timber sliding sash windows, in place of partially bricked up ones.

Hull Council's planning committee is due to discuss the plans next Wednesday after a site visit to the pub, on Charles Street, near Hull New Theatre.

In a report the council’s conservation officer said the society’s plans would “create a positive impact and enhance the character of the area”.

There were also 10 letters of support, and one from Kingston Square Association which said the proposals provided “a sustainable not-forprofit means of preserving this important community space”.

It comes after the council added the pub to its list of Assets of Community Value (ACV) last August. Days later councillors refused plans to turn it into a 29-bedroom house in multiple occupation (HMO).

However, owner Kingston Apartments, has its own planning application in, which is as yet undecided, for the top two floors to become a 20-bedroom HMO, while the ground floor would be a pub with reduced facilities. They have also put in an appeal against the refusal of planning permission for the 29bed HMO.

They’ve turned down the society’s offer of £251,000, saying they “already have an incredibly beneficial plan” for the pub which would be used to house overseas NHS staff.

The society’s chairperson Simon Berry said the offer was still on the table and thanked their many supporters for their backing. He said they were delighted with the officers’ recommendation: "Our proposal is that the pub should remain a pub with all its original features in place for the benefit of the community, and that the exterior of the building be fully renovated in keeping with its location in a conservation area.

"We have made them a realistic offer, which gives them an alternative option.”

In an open letter earlier this month the owners insisted they had “an incredibly beneficial plan for the whole building, that goes beyond what the Save the New Clarence Group propose for the pub as well as creating a highly sought after, in-fact already reserved to lease, co-living space for NHS specialists”.