North Herefordshire pub ‘traded with no licence for a decade’

A North Herefordshire pub operated for more than ten years without a licence, it has been claimed.

The Wheelwrights Arms, in the village of Pencombe west of Bromyard, was put on sale earlier this year for £350,000.

It now appears to be owned by Worcester-based Cramar Leisure, which has put in an application for a new licence to sell alcohol on the premisses.

Its application form describes it as an “established and ancient country public house in rural setting which seemingly has been trading with NO Premises Licence for over a decade”.

The company is seeking permission to trade between 11 am and 11 pm seven days a week, with an extension to 1 am on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, bank holidays and Sundays before bank holiday Mondays.

Comments on the application can be made until June 15.

Herefordshire Council was asked whether the pub had indeed previously traded without a licence but did not respond.