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A parish council could step in to save a village pub from permanent closure with the help of its former punters – after expressing an interest in buying it. The Labour in Vain in Yarnfield, near Stone, has been shut for several months and has now been put up for sale.
In July Stafford Borough Council granted planning permission for three homes to be built on the pub’s car park. The proposals sparked concerns that loss of the parking space could threaten the future of the venue, which is the village’s only pub.
Yarnfield residents and community leaders also fear the pub could close forever if it is sold to a developer. But parish councillors have said they would be willing to work with a buyer planning to reopen it as a pub to make the venture as successful as possible.
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Councillor Kirsty Treen said: “I moved the day before lockdown and one of the reasons we moved here was because there was a local pub, somewhere to go. When it reopened we went. I had my baby shower there and we have always tried to support it. It’s just a shame it’s ended up how it has.”
Councillor David Beeston said: “If we don’t have a pub in the village I think it will devalue properties. If I had been moving to the village and there was nothing I would have looked elsewhere – I’m sure others would do the same.”
Almost 300 people had signed a petition to save the pub by the end of Thursday, September 7. And a number of residents have teamed up with parish councillors to form a group to consider keeping the venue open for the community.
Yarnfield and Cold Meece Parish Council organised a special meeting to consider its response to the pub’s sale. Councillors agreed to express an interest in being treated as a potential bidder.
The pub was registered by the council as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) earlier this year. But the status, lodged with Stafford Borough Council, is now under review, parish council clerk John Fraser said.
He added: “The proposal to dispose of the property triggers a process that gives the parish council a period of time to decide if they want to be a potential bidder. But that initial deadline ends on September 11, so we brought this meeting together at short notice.
“If we want to be considered as a potential bidder a further moratorium on the sale will be imposed for a further four and a half months. We can put together a bid to buy the pub and that would be done not by the parish council, but by a community business that would be set up and run on behalf of the parish.
“The seller is not able to sell it during the moratorium, but they’re not obliged to accept a bid put forward by a community group. The ACV status only deals with the sale – if there is a change of use by the existing owner it is a planning issue.”
The asking price for the pub building is £375,000. And the car park area that has planning permission for housing is up for sale for £195,000, the meeting heard.
Mr Fraser said: “Financing the project isn’t just £375,000 to buy the property – it’s the additional cost to refurbish it to make it a viable offer in the community. There has been a call-out for people to form a core group to look at the development of a business plan.
“We have six people in the community and six councillors who bring some good skills sets from their own lives into that debate. Camra (Campaign for Real Ale) and the Plunkett Foundation can assist in setting up and running community pubs like this – there is a lot to be undertaken in a short space of time.”
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