END OF AN ERA AS JOKER HAS ITS LAST LAUGH
Pub demolished to make way for homes
ANOTHER landmark pub is being demolished – as eight houses have been approved for the site.
Bulldozers are currently knocking down The Joker in Blurton.
It comes after the Finstock Avenue boozer closed down in 2020 following a £2,500 refurbishment – and never reopened. Brothers Dean and Daniel Lovatt had hoped to transform it into a family pub before the coronavirus pandemic struck.
But the pub never made enough money and now it is being knocked down. Businessman Avtar Singh submitted his latest plan to build eight properties on the site with parking spaces to accommodate two cars for each one last year.
The planning application submitted to Stoke-on-trent City Council states: “The public house, like many others, has over recent years struggled to maintain its financial viability despite a number of different landlords and managers. The site has also a history of anti-social behaviour which has also had a negative impact on the surrounding residential properties.”
The most-recent planning application was approved in March. In his report, principal planning officer Abid Hussain said: “The proposal is considered to be acceptable in terms of design, amenity and highway safety and would deliver a sustainable development.”
Local historian Mervyn Edwards says the demolition of The Joker leaves Blurton short of pubs.
Mervyn said: “I knew The Joker was under threat so this is no great surprise. Over the years, and certainly within my own living memory, Blurton has had a small number of pubs all of which served the local community in their own separate ways.
“To witness the demise of another pub leaves Blurton rather short to be honest. It’s a pub that provides community spaces, a place to meet and to thrash out ideas. It’s a place for communities of all kinds so its demise is regrettable.”