Letter: Don't punish pub owners
Councillors, for the second time in a few weeks – and against the advice of their officers – have refused a change of use for a country pub, The Pheasant Inn at Linley (and previously the Lion O'Morfe near Claverley).
What planet do they live on? Both pubs have thrived in the past but the world moves on and it is now increasingly difficult for rural pubs to survive, especially those outside substantial villages and off major roads.
Despite what councillors said, The Pheasant did serve food and, from my intermittent experience this was good and the welcome always friendly.
Home plan for Shropshire pub thrown out again
It is an unfortunate fact of life that society has changed dramatically with smoking bans and cheap supermarket drinks making life all but impossible for all but a few pubs.
Even those in town now often struggle and, therefore, councillors need to recognise that many pubs are now definitively non-viable. It is thus unfair to lock owners in to pubs that they have run for many years and that cannot be sold in their present form.
For councillors and objectors to say that they should be sold is not living with economic reality. The price that may be achieved, if any purchaser can be found, is so low as to require current owners virtually to give away their main asset after years of service to their community.
If councillors are to require this, perhaps they should also be prepared to sell their homes for a fraction of their worth.
Ron Whittle
Bridgnorth
