Country pub expands outdoor eating and drinking

A Herefordshire country pub has the go-ahead to double the size of its beer garden and add extra covered seating.

The plan for the Three Horseshoes Inn at Little Cowarne, between Bromyard and Hereford, is “in response to the post-pandemic environment”, its application said.

It will see a triangular-shaped section of a neighbouring field added to the existing beer garden, and a timber-framed, covered seating area installed to replace a temporary marquee currently in use.

The new “essentially open-sided” structure will have a tiled roof rising to 4.6m (15 feet), and will provide additional covered seating, “which is essential in the post-pandemic environment”, the application said.

Supporting the proposal, Herefordshire Council’s planning officer Ollie Jones said it “relates to the sites established use as a public house and would provide community benefits in the social and economic spheres through the enhancement of a vital community asset in this rural settlement”.

There were “no identified landscape or amenity issues”, nor any objections from highways officials, he said.

Pencombe Group Parish Council earlier agreed that the development “would provide enhanced facilities for the community and should be supported”. No objections were lodged.

The Three Horseshoes has been owned by the Abell family since 1860, its website says. It is recommended by the Good Pub Guide.

The end of Plan B restrictions last week “will encourage consumers to get back to pubs, bars and restaurants over the next few weeks, and kickstart what will hopefully be a much brighter year”, Jonathan Jones of hospitality analysts CGA said.