‘Heart of village’ pub wins a stay of execution
A VILLAGE pub has been given a stay of execution after councillors deferred plans to turn it into homes.
The owner of the Bosville Arms in Rudston near Bridlington insists it is not economically viable, but the parish council disagrees, saying it is the “heart of the community” and claiming it could be viable as a business.
At a planning meeting, ward councillors Jane Evison and Jonathan Owen joined objector Ian Simmonds to make the case to retain the pub.
They welcomed the decision to defer, which came against the officers’ recommendation, saying it would give time to explore with residents the opportunity of making the pub an asset of community value.
The village is famed for its giant monolith, said to be the tallest standing stone in the UK.
Coun Evison said: “The impact of the loss of the local pub to a community is huge and frankly the Bosville Arms has so much going for it in relation to its position on the side of a main road, good car parking, it serves a village of 400 residents and is on a main tourist route.
“We will now be calling a public meeting to investigate what support and advice we can provide to help save the Bosville Arms.”
Coun Owen said it would be down to the community to take the next step, adding: “We hear all the time of pubs closing, however, with a little innovation, many village pubs are still able to survive.”
It came after the Campaign for Real Ale highlighted around a dozen pubs in the East Riding that have either had approval to turn into houses or are in the process of doing so in recent times.