Funding bid for £300k to restore pub on way

A funding bid for a £300,000 project to restore an historic pub will be made by June, bosses behind the proposed development have announced.

The Bell Inn, in Market Place, Willenhall, was taken over by a consortium in September 2010, and plans are now being drawn up to bring the dilapidated building up to scratch in order to use it for community ventures.

The consortium, made up of volunteers Stan Taylor, Rupy Pandaal, Wendy Evans and Ralph Jackson, are to submit a funding bid to the Townscape Heritage Initiative by June.

The limit for funding on any one project from the THI is £100,000, but Mr Pandaal said he was hopeful the scheme could secure extra cash.

He said: "We don't expect to get the whole sum but we want to get the most we possibly can.

"We have met with the council to see if they can be more flexible with the funding, but the decision would need to be made by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

"The next stage is to put the bid in which we are expecting to do by June. We will also be applying for planning permission due to the extensive works that need to be undertaken." He said the group were anxious for building work to start by autumn this year.

The building was broken into again recently, with vandals managing to get in through a boarded up window.

Mr Pandaal said only minor damage had been caused and nothing was taken, but repairs to the building are already anticipated to cost thousands of pounds more than originally thought.

"We will be also be approaching other funders," he added.

There are plans for a residential conversion of the upper floor and a tearoom to be based at the site.

The iconic building includes oak beams in a former hay loft, which date back to the 1580s.