First look at plans for place to ‘share automotive passions’
PUB’S NEW OWNERS SEEKING TO REASSURE LOCALS
THIS is how the grounds of a rural pub near Ashbourne could look if ambitious plans to transform it into a meeting venue for car enthusiasts is given the go-ahead.
The owners of the hugely successful Caffeine and Machine venue, near Stratford-upon-avon, have bought the Knockerdown Inn, near Carsington, and have submitted plans to bring their idea of an automotive mecca to Ashbourne’s countryside.
If approved by Derbyshire Dales District Council, the country’s second Caffeine and Machine venue could be open by next summer and dozens of owners of weird and wonderful cars and motorbikes could be using the site as a place to gather and indulge in their shared passions.
Caffeine and Machine co-founder Dan Macken has told the News Telegraph the proposed scheme would create a family-friendly venue for people to spend time admiring showpiece cars and bikes.
He said: “Caffeine and Machine is an environment where families, and often multiple generations of the same family, can come and meet with each other and enjoy their shared passion.
“It will be about all things automotive, and that happens to be a passion that lots of people share, in the way they share in lots of other things.
“And we believe if you create that environment, where people go to meet at the same place, it’s a business that caters for everyone with a love of things that move.
“And that’s our mantra, we cater for everything that moves – anything and everything, whether it’s cars, bikes, or even horses. We’ve had horses in the yard before.”
The existing pub, which has been vacant since its former owners retired, would be retained on the site and turned into a coffee shop, while elsewhere on the site there would be a lavish “emporium” set up to host automotive displays and to act as a focal point.
A large part of the site would given over to parking, while the applicants also want to create a separate exit road onto the B5035 to enhance safety for visitors arriving and leaving.
Already the application has raised eyebrows among locals, with villagers in Hognaston writing to Derbyshire Dales District Council with letters of objection. One resident has branded the change of use from a family pub to a coffee house and automotive emporium “totally unsympathetic and unnecessary”, while another has flagged up concerns over the extra traffic the site and its parking area for more than 100 cars could generate.
However, the owners of the site’s immediate neighbours, Lenton Developments Ltd, which operates a self-catering and event complex at Knockerdown Holiday Cottages, has written a letter of support, praising the “innovative concept”.
On behalf of the Knockerdown Farm complex, Myles Mellor wrote: “The ticketed events they host at other sites are excellent and very well organised with a safe and responsible family feeling environment. We welcome the proposals to enhance and invest in the local area.”
Mr Macken has also moved to allay fears that supercars and high-powered bikes could cause a nuisance as they leave the site, by pointing out the community culture and sense of responsibility that is instilled in all visitors.
He says there will be strict engineoff rules on site, with no burnouts or stunts allowed, and access and entry points would be monitored by marshals.
He said: “On the face of it I absolutely get the concerns that people have, but one of the things that we work so hard to do here is to create that community, to create the feeling that people are part of something, and we create the idea that there’s an inclusive nature, and that people have a responsibility to look after it.
“We acknowledge that we bring traffic, but we’ve learned a lot from the opening of our first site, and off the back of that we put together a whole host of measures to ensure we can control the volume of vehicles and the manner in which they drive. We’re very mindful of fitting in. We don’t want to be a venue that disrupts, it’s genuinely the last thing we want to do.”
Derbyshire Dales District Council will consider the plans in the coming weeks, and it is likely the decision will be referred to the council’s planning committee for a full debate and determination, which would be expected by the end of the year.