Unwanted village pub is set to make way for four new houses
A VILLAGE pub which closed last year could be demolished to make way for new homes.
The Cross Keys Inn, in Turnditch, near Ashbourne, and an adjoining former butcher’s shop could be pulled down and replaced by four detached homes.
A planning application has been submitted to Amber Valley Borough Council by the pub’s owner, Bespoke Inns, after a search for a new tenant ended in disappointment.
Bespoke, which owns other pubs in the area, including The Dragon, at Willington, and The Boot, at Repton, has owned the Cross Keys since 2010 after buying it from the Scottish and Newcastle pub company.
It invested £80,000 in revamping the venue and brought in an experienced management team to run it.
Not long after the pub reopened, Anthony Andrews Traditional Butchers became tenants at the vacant shop unit attached to the business, which had once been a post office.
That business has since moved out of the premises and now has a shop at Duffield.
According to the planning application, the most recent tenants of the Cross Keys decided not to renew their lease due to ‘the rural location of the property, increased competition, lack of local support, and the general economic climate.’
The pub was put on the market but, despite incentives such as six months free rent, there were no takers.
Planning documents submitted by JMI Planning, on behalf of Bespoke Inns, said: “Following an unsuccessful marketing exercise, the applicant has reluctantly considered alternative uses for the building.
“The only serious offer based on freehold sale was from a developer proposing to redevelop the site for housing.
“The public house is vacant. Initially, the venture proved a success and developed a good reputation for food and service.
“Faced with increasing competition and limited regular local customers, profits dwindled and the pub was forced to close a year before the lease was due to come to an end.”
The Cross Keys was registered by the district council in July this year as an asset of community value.
“While the planning application accepts that the proposal will involve the loss of the community facility, it argues that the village is served by other pubs.
It said: “The Cross Keys has been closed for some time and there is limited prospect of it reopening.
“The location of the site is such that the public house is not viable and there is no interest in the property as a going concern.
“Thus, there is no realistic prospect of the pub reopening, either as a communityrun facility or as a commercial venture.
“The designation of the public house as an asset of community value does not preclude planning permission being granted for an alternative use of the site.
“There are two alternative public houses within 1km of the site - the Tiger Inn and the Railway Inn.
“The permanent closure of the pub would not, therefore, harm the vitality of the community.”
The pub is not viable and there is no interest in the property as a going concern Planning documents