Council to decide alcohol licence for revamped pub

A council hearing will decide on the alcohol licence of a pub following concerns about potential noise.

The former Old Stags Head in Penn, Wolverhampton, closed in 2018 but was saved from being turned into houses by a residents' campaign and is set to reopen following a refurbishment.

Permission has been sought via Wolverhampton City Council to sell alcohol between 09:00 and midnight every day, but the application has received a handful of complaints over the hours of operation.

"It is entirely inappropriate to consider awarding the kind of late license usually associated with a city centre venue," one objection said. The matter is set to be discussed on 15 June.

The pub has stood on Church Hill for 200 years and is registered as an asset of community value.

It closed in October 2018 after a decline in trade and was put up for sale. But it was still available more than five years later, with the price reduced from £750,000 to £495,000.

A plan by the owner to turn it into a six-bedroom home was rejected by the city council in 2022, with the decision upheld by government planning inspectors after an appeal.

Another application to turn it into a house in 2024 was also rejected by the council. More than 300 people objected to the proposal.

The city council approved plans last year to reopen the pub, which was described as dilapidated and in a serious state of disrepair. A new layout and larger restaurant were proposed.

But the objections to the requested operating hours have resulted in the hearing.

The objector who said a late licence was inappropriate also said they had been plagued by "intrusive and inarguably excessive noise" when the pub was last open.

West Midlands Police and the council's public health and environmental heath officers withdrew their concerns after discussions with the applicant.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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