Black Country landlady's shock at plans to turn her pub into flats
The licensee of an at-risk pub has spoken of her shock at finding it has been put up for sale and claimed a lack of support from the brewery which owns it.
Fiona Tennant said she was astonished to find out that the Brook Inn in Woodsetton had been put up for a planning application to convert it into flats without her prior knowledge.
Five flats have been proposed on the site of the pub which dates back to 1835 and was run by the Tully family for nearly 100 years.
Under the application, three one-bed, a two-bed and a three-bed homes are proposed, with a two-storey rear extension replacing the existing extension also included in the plans submitted to Dudley Council on August 2.
Explaining the proposal, the applicant said: "The proposed conversion of the public house to residential apartments is due to the lack of demand for its current use."
Ms Tennant has been licensee of the pub since December last year and said she had done what she could to make the pub a welcoming place for people to come to and, she claimed, without any support from owners Richmond Hill Brewery.
She said: "I feel I have had no support from Richmond Hill in the time I have been here, and as a tenant, I know I have to fix things, but for example, my boiler broke in March and so I have been without hot water since then.
"I think I've done the best I can to bring people in, with live entertainment and the fact we have a beautiful garden for families to sit in."
She said the first she had heard of the application was when a customer had sent her screen shots of the planning application and said she suspected it was the brewery that had made the application.
She said: "I couldn't believe it when I saw it as no one had told me and I sent over the screen shots to Richmond and asked them what this was, to which they said they were going down the route of coming out of pubs, so, to my knowledge, they made the application.
"They hadn't even told me anything and I was shocked when I found out as I would have hoped they'd have had the decency to tell me."
Ms Tennant said the customers were united in wanting to keep the pub, although she said she couldn't see a future for it under the current owners.
She said: "All of my customers and even those who aren't regulars, they're all behind wanting to save the pub and I think it would be shame for it to be turned into flats.
"Sadly, I don't see much of a future for the pub under Richmond Hill."
Richmond Hill Brewery have been contacted for a comment.
To find out more about the planning application, go to shorturl.at/abrH3
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