Meanwhile, historic Newbury pub faces conversion
The plans, submitted by Vokins Construction, seek to convert the pub and two outbuildings into four residential units.
The 19th century Grade II-listed pub in Andover Road, Newbury has been vacant since February 2012. The Wellington was owned and leased by West Berkshire Council as a freehold asset.
Speaking at a town council planning and highways committee meeting on Monday, Adrian Edwards (Con Falkland) raised objections to losing a historical pub.
He said: “We are talking about a pub that has been around for 150 years or so. I think it’s a great pity that we can’t continue its use as a pub. It would be a great shame if it was turned into something else.”
In his own research, Mr Edwards documents how the pub was involved in the old City area of Newbury's 'alternative mayor making', where candidates were locked in a club room and fed an explosive cocktail of bacon, beans and beer laced with spices.
“The brew acted in a very distressful and explosive manner, and the candidate first found to be in this unfortunate position was proclaimed mayor,” the report says.
The ‘winner’ was then carried to other pubs in the City before heading back to a banquet at the Wellington.
The plans to convert the pub come within weeks of West Berkshire Council approving plans to demolish the Blue Ball Inn in Greenham and replace it with eight homes.
The leader of the town council Julian Swift-Hook (Lib Dem, Pyle Hill) said on Monday that the role of pubs had changed.
“It’s a fact of life that the use of pubs across the country is decreasing significantly,” he said. “The pub used to be a social network of choice but I’m afraid that people now choose to go online to socialise rather than pubs. The problem is our own making. If we do not use it we lose it.”
He added that in the current economic climate and pub market it was difficult to raise objections.
The plans were approved by eight votes with one objection and one abstention.
A decision is expected from West Berkshire Council by October 14.
