A village pub which is firmly back on track following a devastating fire last year won planning permission on Wednesday to extend the number of guest rooms it offers from 10 to 13.
Charles Lowther, owner of the George and Dragon public house, Town End, Clifton, had applied to Westmorland and Furness Council seeking approval to change the use of a three-bedroom house adjoining the pub in order to provide further overnight guest accommodation.
At a meeting of the council’s Eden local area planning committee at Penrith Town Hall on Wednesday, it was agreed that the pub could be extended to include three extra letting bedrooms.
Chris Curry, on behalf of the applicant, said: “The success of public houses now actually depends on whether you have accommodation available.
“We already have 10 bedrooms at the George and Dragon. This would add another three bedrooms and make it much more viable, with increased costs of labour for good service and increased costs for food.”
He said the requirement for additional bedrooms for the successful progression of the business was “vitally important”.
“We consider that the George and Dragon is a community asset – certainly with the recent closure of the village hall in Clifton, I think that actually proves to be the case even more,” said Mr Curry.
He added: “We could have actually just converted it into an Airbnb and I understand that we wouldn’t have needed planning permission for that. We already have another Airbnb at one of our other properties, which we do let, and they use the facilities of the pub in the village.
“But, in this case, we felt it was the best option to turn it into bedrooms so we can control it and control the guests that come in and out of it and ensure the community is protected.”
A spokesman for Clifton community council said there were concerns about the application and the impact it would have on nearby residents.
He said it would remove a domestic residential property from housing stock in the local area and there was considerable demand for such properties in Clifton.
“The concerns of residents about noise, pollution and the impact of their enjoyment of their properties is a real one. It will have impact on daily lives of residents in Clifton,” said the spokesman,
He added: “This will be the final nail in the coffin of what was Town End in Clifton with the loss of the final domestic property into a commercial business.”
The plan is to create one new guest room on the ground floor with a double bedroom, bathroom and sitting area, with two separate guest rooms on the first floor, each with a double bedroom and en-suite.
Other works include replacement of the garage door to a single pedestrian door, installation of new timber sliding sash windows and glazing bars finished in white wood preservative paint, and the repainting of the external elevations in white to match the existing pub.
