A pub landlord has been given 14 days to remove shipping containers he converted into smoking shelters or face court action.
Dave Westwood, from The Vine pub in Rugeley, said Cannock Chase Council have deemed the shelters to be permanent structures. But he says they are temporary and have only been put in place while he assesses the pub’s future after the smoking ban. Planning officers have rejected his arguments and have now issued him with a legal notice to get rid of the 20ft containers or he will be taken to court.
Mr Westwood, together with his son Oliver, bought The Vine from brewery firm Punch Taverns in 2006, after the pub was threatened with closure.
The pub, on Sheep Fair, was saved after Mr Westwood, aged 54, gained planning permission for an apartment block on land behind the historic watering hole.
When the smoking ban came into effect last July Mr Westwood thought up the unique idea of shipping containers as a low-cost alternative to a smoking shelter which can cost thousands of pounds.
He bought three 20ft containers and installed them at the back of the pub and to comply with the law he removed the sides and installed a trellis and other plants.
Now his actions look set to land him in court where he could face a £5,000 fine.
Mr Westwood said: “I am just trying to run an honest business. These containers don’t cause anyone any problems but I feel like the council is victimising me because I know of other places, including council owned land, where shipping containers have been used for years.
“If the council want to drive pubs out of business they are making a good job of it. I can’t spend all this time messing about when I have a business to run.”
Mr Westwood has been given until April 29 to remove the shelters or face legal action.
No-one from Cannock Chase Council was available for comment.
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2 Comments
No-one from Cannock Chase Council was available for comment!!!!!! I wonder if that could have had something to do with the spineless bureaucrats hiding behind their official desk??????
Mind you this man is so stupid, did he really not understand that there are 2 sets of rules? One for the elite that govern our wonderful country, and another for the great unwashed who pay their extortionate salaries.
Cannock council know that when they have forced this man out of business, they can always look to the great unwashed to pay even more in council tax, to subsidise the tax that this man wont be paying because he has been bankrupted.
These councils are constantly telling us to recycle, and when this guy did that they want to put him out of business, wonder if his local councillor will be knocking on his door to ask for his vote???
I don’t smoke but I would have to say the smoking ban in pubs is a bigger disaster than this governments policy on asylum seekers, it was a good idea, ill thought out and has decimated the pub trade.
Jim of Bearwood
all the pubs are closing down, its a real shame.