Staff and regulars battling to save Bradford’s Winston Churchill pub have been left to fight another day.
Members of Bradford Council’s area planning panel, who met yesterday, decided they needed to visit the premises in Wakefield Road before deciding whether to give Pitt Wilson Electrical, which occupies the site next door, permission to knock down the pub and extend its adjoining electrical works.
Council planning officers had told the panel that as the Winston Churchill, built in 1751, was not a listed building or in a conservation area, it had no special protection to safeguard it from demolition.
They said Pitt Wilson’s original application for planning permission contained incorrect information about the pub, saying it was in a poor condition and derelict. A site visit by officers found the Winston Churchill, which has faced an uncertain future since its owner Deep Clear went into administration, to be well maintained and open for business.
Two petitions, signed by a total of more than 350 people, had been sent to the authority objecting to the application, which officers had recommended for approval.
Raising objections, Councillor John Robertshaw (Con, Bowling and Barkerend), said: “When you look at Bradford and its historical context most of us are fully aware that public houses are being decimated. We are looking at a building from 1759, it’s a scandal that it should be replaced with something hideous.
“I don’t want to use euphemisms but these people are fighting not only on the beaches but on Wakefield Road itself. It’s a bit of England that they want protecting.”
Licensee Pat Robinson, who lives at the pub with her family, said it was popular with local residents during the week and customers came from further afield at weekends.
She said: “The local people are up in arms about the proposed demolition. You will find it’s a very busy and well-run pub. There are not many good, local public houses that are making a profit.”
Panel chairman Councillor David Robinson (Labour, Wyke) told Mrs Robinson the only options available to save the pub were to encourage another pub group to buy the property or to ask Pitt Wilson to continue to run it as a pub, if the firm purchased the building.
Concluding the meeting, he said: “We want to look further into this site before granting it or dismissing it and I think this is a reasonable request.”
The application was deferred to the next panel meeting.
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