10 Cannock Chase pubs call time in less than five years
Time has been called on ten pubs in Cannock Chase in less than five years while three more are at risk of closure.
The Express & Star can reveal the district council has approved plans to bulldoze or covert public houses at a rate of one every six months since 2012.
Popular watering holes to be shutdown in recent years include the Tackeroo, where Alvin Stardust once performed as well as The Globe, the remains of which are an eyesore between Cannock and Hednesford.
While the long-term futures of two more pubs, the Ascot Tavern and the Pied Piper, are very much in limbo both having recently fought off bids to be replaced by supermarkets - the latter venue even receiving the backing of Cannock-born ex-footballer Stan Collymore.
And just last month plans were submitted to bulldoze the Hope and Anchor in Brereton to make way for five homes.
The Cannock Chase branch of Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has declared that pubs are buckling under the pressure of high costs but warned once they are gone they are lost forever.
Phil Raybould, social secretary at the branch, said: "Pubs are closing very regularly now.
"The main problem is the pressure of costs.
"And now CAMRA, which is the Campaign for Real Ale now find themselves campaigning to keep pubs open.
"They are the focus of communities and where people go to meet up.
"But when they are gone they are gone."
The Pig & Bell in Rugeley, was changed into a takeaway in 2012 and is now Rugeley Spice.
The same year the Bridgtown Tavern also became a restaurant and is now Spices.
In 2013 last orders were called at the Talbot Inn in Brereton as plans to turn it into a nursery were approved.
A few months later The Globe in Rugeley was converted into an estate agents and the same year the Fern & Fallow in Cannock shut its doors.
Rugeley lost another pub in 2013 when plans to turn the Prince of Wales into a house were given the green light.
Hednesford's The Globe was the next to make way with plans to replace it with a care home approved in 2014.
Then the town's iconic Tackeroo was next to be earmarked for an apartments development hosting its final night last year.
While the final nails in the coffin for Cannock's The Golden Age and Lamp & Flag were delivered last year when the council gave permission for both drinking spots to make way for housing.
