New knockback for pub couple (From Gazette & Herald)

New knockback for pub couple

FRUSTRATED licensees at a North Yorkshire village pub have been pulling their hair out as well as pulling pints, after their ambitious expansion plans were snubbed for a third time by council planners.

After taking over the Middleton Arms two years ago in picturesque Middleton, near Pickering, Tony and Jayne Wells invested substantially in the pub by renovating the bar and restaurant, replacing a collection of ramshackle outbuildings, with a neat extension housing a catering kitchen, toilets and living quarters.

When they reopened in April last year, the couple took the brave step of becoming one of the first pubs in the country to enforce a smoking ban.

Now they want to expand their family business, in which their children, Emma, 16, and 18-year-old Chris, are both employed part-time, and knock down some dilapidated out-buildings in the car park and construct some guest rooms on their footprint.

Mr Wells said: "The Middleton Arms is a traditional village pub providing good food and fine beer in a smoke-free environment.

"There's a demand for bed-and-breakfast accommodation in Middleton, so we're trying to tap into that. The financing and development of local tourism has been highlighted recently by the council as a priority."

But Ryedale District Council planning committee has knocked back planning applications three times - each time the publicans have altered the proposals to take into consideration objectors' concerns, but still have been refused.

Plans for six and then five letting bedrooms were thrown out once on the grounds of inadequate car parking, the second and third times because of the adverse impact on the conversation area and on neighbouring properties.

"We've found it stressful. A lot of customers are as baffled as we are as to why this application has been refused," said Mrs Wells.

"Before we took it over it was a threatened rural pub. It had been on the market for a while and there was a danger that it could have been turned into a house."

Neighbour John James, of The Cottage, Church Street, has objected to the two-storey extension being attached to the side of his property by saying it would negatively affect the conservation area.

The Burrows family, of Springfield, Middleton, objected to the size, form and design of the development.

The couple plan to continue trying for an extension, and hope their planning consultant can persuade the planning committee to visit the site, which they feel will give them a better understanding of their situation.

Updated: 10:22 Monday, June 14, 2004