Reopened village pub seeks permission for changes

A reopened Herefordshire village pub plans to regularise changes that were made when it previously served as an Airbnb.

The Lamb Inn in Stoke Prior near Leominster reopened to drinkers last October, having previously pulled its last pint seven years earlier.

In the intervening time, its owners advertised it as offering Airbnb accommodation – though no formal planning permission for the change of use was ever granted.

During this time, they installed an external fire escape giving onto the flat roof of a side annexe to the building. A steel railing was added around the roof, while an external staircase led to the ground. But it appears these did not benefit from planning permission either.

They would be retained “solely for emergency use”, with any other use “strictly prohibited”, according to the planning application (number 261006) by the new owner Kieran Wyldes, now seeking retrospective permission for them.

His application also seeks permission for a “small”, 2.5-metre high lorry body, installed to the rear of the pub last October to store food, which it says “results in only a minimal visual and practical impact”.

The pub is neither heritage listed nor in a conservation area, it points out.

A spokesperson for the pub said that since its reopening, “The locals have backed us, we have our regulars, and we are doing really well so far this summer, hopefully more so now with the World Cup.”

They clarified that upstairs of the property is, for now, solely for management use – “but the fire escape is there if we decide to go in for letting rooms”.

Comments on the application can be made until July 16, with a decision due three weeks later.