Pub scraps renovation plans

A brewery has scrapped controversial plans to expand a village pub.

Brewer Greene King has withdrawn the refurbishment plans for the Crown Inn in Hallow, near Worcester, which will reopen after a freshen up next month creating 40 jobs.

The previous plans for the pub, which has been closed since Christmas, included a bigger bar and toilets, a transformed garden and outdoor seating areas with a covered pergola and pods for alfresco dining which had led to complaints from neighbours.

The pub’s new general manager Marc Eeley said the Crown Inn would remain a community local.

He said: “The Crown Inn is a wonderful pub at the heart of the village and I want to reassure everyone that it will stay the same friendly, community pub which made it such a success in the past.

“There are no immediate plans to extend the pub – the previous planning application has been withdrawn – and the opening hours will stay the same as under the previous management.

“What we are doing is freshening up the internal decor and are looking at some improvements to the beer garden, but our main priority is recruiting staff ready to reopen the pub in August.”

He continued: “As well as seasoned hospitality professionals, we would also welcome applications from people who may never have worked in the trade before but have the right personality for the job.

“We can train the necessary skills, it’s all about being friendly and having that warm personality to really make our guests feel welcome when they visit the pub.”

The brewery had applied for a licence to be able to open until 3am and play live and recorded music until 2am but later said it did not plan to open until the early hours.

One objector in the village had said: “Hallow is a quiet ‘dark’ village and the proposal to have outdoor live music – with associated lighting – will destroy that, let alone impacting severely on the close neighbours.

“There is no place in a rural village for a mini-Glastonbury.”

Dozens of objections were raised by neighbours in Hallow including by one couple, who have lived near to the pub for 33 years, who said “enough is enough” over the planned expansion to the garden and outdoor facilities.

The Crown Inn was run by Will and Sacha Donaldson for more than a decade but the lease, which ran out in February, was not renewed by landlords Greene King which decided to move ahead with its own renovation work.