A quite literally sobering thought came to us this week as we witnessed the owners carting off yet another load of equipment from the pub bound for whatever destination. The place appears to have been stripped of everything that made it a pub: the cellar fittings, the toys from the children's playground, the kitchen equipment, even the piping.
The owners are clearly intent in making sure the George & Dragon never functions as a hostelry again. Quite whether their actions work in their favour remains to be seen. What will they do if their planning application doesn't succeed? Do they have the funds to service any loans or mortgages they took out to purchase the pub in the first place? If they leave it "to go into decline and decay" as they suggest in their planning application, how will this enhance their standing with their bankers and/ or sponsors, not to mention the local authorities? And, more to the point, what will that do to their initial investment?
Another issue that has got to us over the past few months concerns the historical status of the pub. It is at least 175 years old. We have copies of old photographs, census records and entries in trade directories tracing the establishment back to 1834 at which time it was already a going concern so the odds are that it is much older. However, according to the Borough Conservationist, the pub is of no historical interest. And this is the source of our discomfort. If it is 175 years old does that not mean, ipso facto, that it is of historical interest?
From our point of view, the historical importance of a pub is a function of its social context as much as anything else. According to the Borough Council's response to Bill Cash's letter on our behalf the pub is not of historical interest because the Borough Conservationist has ruled that it is not.
However, we are not aware of any surveys, investigations, inquiries or any other form of research undertaken by the aforementioned with regard to the George & Dragon. There was, it seems, a survey undertaken in the "mid 20th century" which concluded that extensions to the main building rendered the building as being of no historical interest.
It is this survey that the Borough Conservationist cites as her reasons for the pub being historically uninteresting. We are very concerned that an office financed by council tax payers could make such pronouncements without consulting local residents or undertaking some form of research. To the best of our knowledge, the Borough Conservationist has not pursued this matter locally nor has she been in touch with residents.
Still, we might have got this wrong. Has anyone approached you about your views on the historical importance of the George & Dragon to Rough Close? Has the Borough Conservationist been in touch with about your views as to its impending demise? If so, please let us know.
But what do you think? By all means leave a comment to share with us but better still, protest to your Borough Councillor or even to the Chief Executive of Stafford Borough Council.
And are we giving in? Not a chance.
Friday 12 March 2010
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An interesting commentary on the George and Dragon saga.Certainly no one has contacted anyone in my social circle either from Borough council elected/employed/appointed status related to the plans for the demolition.Indeed as other prior comments on this blog say,it would have been expected that some form of public survey would have occurred at least.
ReplyDeleteThe Borough council had much time and resource available to it to survey the electorate when it decided to put the barbed wire enclosure around the bottom common,although it ignored the results,but even with the much higher level of objection to the demolition things have been very quiet from them in engaging the community.At best disappointing.
The point raised about the Borough conservationists poor performance is well made but the Borough councils record on conserving anything old or valued by the population is dreadful as any readers who like me spend time in Stafford itself will attest.
So many valued structures have been bulldozed with the collusion of the Borough council and replaced by retail sheds or similar structures we really can not expect much support on buildings of historical value from such a discredited part of this council.Leopards rarely change their spots !
The point that is made about the building deteriorating because of the developers strategy to make this happen is true as any of us that have recently walked past the pub can see,it is showing the neglect meted upon it by Mr and Mrs Davis.
As with previous commentary on this,what are our the elected councillors doing about these things ? Little that we are told about apparently but as a minimum to respond to the content of this specific blog article they should be challenging the Borough conservationists report as I presume that she is either employed or a contractor of the council (so paid by us)if they agree that the property should be conserved.
A significant increase in information from them is the minimum expectation.
A very interesting comment raising some pertinent issues particularly about the level of interest shown by our local politicians. With the honourable exception of Parish Councillor Joy Bennett, this would not seem to be very much.
ReplyDeleteThat said, Borough Councillor Richard Oldfield has been very supportive and will be speaking on our behalf when the application goes to committee. One thing that continues to bug us is that our other two Borough Councillors cannot get involved because they are on the planning committee! What price democracy?
The other point that grates is that the Borough Council is supposed to be providing "best value" services to its council tax payers. We struggle to understand how they are achieving this in the present context.
What can we do about it? Protest, that's what!
I think they should let it be knocked down. My husband and I went to see this pub on Saturday 22 May 2010 and parked around the back of the pub. We were there to view it and perhaps to make an offer. Our car was stoned from the embankment above by 3 large bricks. The coward who threw them did not show themselves but we drove off. I wouldn't touch the place...ever...I'm not surprised it's been shut down. What a rough area.
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