Pub is put on market – despite campaign to rescue it

A 400-YEAR-OLD pub near Ilkley will be sold at auction, despite a campaign to have it listed as a community asset so it can remain viable.

Auction House West Yorkshire are marketing The Hermit Inn at Burley Woodhead with a suggested minimum bid of £425,000.

Landlady Gillian Kelly closed the business last year, claiming she was unable to make a profit due to Covid-19 restrictions.

She then submitted a proposal to Bradford Council to convert the inn – once a haunt of Countdown presenter Richard Whiteley – into residential development but that was withdrawn before a decision could be given.

A group called Save the Hermit was subsequently formed to try and secure an Asset of Community Value listing, which would protect The Hermit from development and require the owner to offer it for sale to the community.

Nicholas Hooper, from the group, said members were disappointed that the auction listing referred to the building as being an opportunity for “investors and developers” as well as those interested in running it as a pub.

Burley parish council has applied to Bradford Council for an ACV listing, he said, adding that they were also canvassing for support to try and raise funds for a community ownership bid.

Mr Hooper said: “Our bottom line is that The Hermit should, with a new, committed owner become once again a successful inn serving the local community, walkers and tourists.”

Former Keighley MP John Grogan, who lives in Burley in Wharfedale and is involved with the campaign said the application for an ACV was a “clear signal to any potential speculator that the local community will fight hard to retain it as a public house”.