Community group’s plans to buy Ripon pub could be abandoned

A community group whose members have spent eight years trying to save and reopen a derelict pub have said they may have to abandon their plans.

The Henry Jenkins Group received a £330,000 grant from the government’s Community Property Fund to buy the hotel of the same name in the village of Kirkby Malzeard, near Ripon.

However, their campaign has stalled and they are at risk of losing money because the pub owner has refused to sell it to them at a price they believe reflects its value.

The owner said he did not believe Henry Jenkins was viable as there were several other pubs in the area.

Richard Sadler, the group’s chairman, said eight proposals for the building had been rejected and that there were concerns about its deterioration.

“The timber on the windows is rotten and the roof at the back is starting to collapse,” Mr Sadler added.

He said more than £200,000 had been received in “deposits” from local residents who had bought shares to refurbish and refurbish the pub.

He said despite the impasse with pub owner David Fielder, there was “tremendous” support for the group’s vision in the village.

Mr Fielder, who runs a further 18 pubs across Yorkshire, bought Henry Jenkins in 2011 and said he would prefer to sell it as a pub but does not believe it is still viable as a licensed premises.

He had struggled to find a tenant to run the site and said licensees had told him they did not believe Kirkby Mulzeard could support four pubs with a population of 900 people.

Instead, he submitted several applications to convert the building into housing, but these were refused.

He said: “I’m not a developer. I’ve owned pubs since 1987. We’re not in the business of asset stripping and I don’t think many people buying pubs are doing that.”

North Yorkshire Council has now agreed to act as a mediator between the group and Mr Fielder to find a solution.

The dispute shed light on what Mr Sadler said was a wider problem of pubs having insufficient legal protection from redevelopment.

Members of Henry Jenkins’ group want the government to reform planning laws to stop developer “land banking” pubs that could still trade successfully.

Earlier this year, the new government announced a plan to give communities the right to buy pubs as part of a proposed English devolution bill.

Mr Sadler said the new legislation was welcome but may not be enough.

“We are seeing speculative developers snapping up old pubs for their potential housing value.

“There needs to be some kind of obligation on pub owners to accept the valuation carried out by an independent valuer and only then can you stop things like this.”

A campaign group has called on new Housing and Communities Minister Alex Norris to take urgent action to close loopholes in the planning system.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the English devolution bill would give people “real power to take responsibility for these assets” and that they would announce more details in due course.

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