Hereford city pub gets meeting room

A prominent Herefordshire pub has been given permission to convert part of its upstairs manager’s flat into a meeting room for work groups.

The Plough Inn in Hereford’s Whitecross Road is owned by Star Pubs and Bars, part of Heineken UK. Its planning application proposed replacing a bedroom and kitchen in the flat with a meeting room and kitchenette, to allow gatherings to “discuss work commitments, plans and professional agendas in a quiet and well-equipped meeting space”.

The scaled-back manager’s flat would then have a new kitchen in what is now the living room, submitted plans show.

There were no objections from the city council or the public.

Planning officer Simon Rowles concluded that given the “modest scale” of the proposal, with no external changes to the pub building, no harm would arise from it.

And while the pub has “limited” on- and off-street parking, the change would not impact on local roads “due to traffic regulation orders and its sustainable location”, he added.

A new licensee took over the pub earlier this year, following a dispute between the pub company and its previous tenant.