Residents lose fight to save pub

NEIGHBOURS have failed in a battle to prevent demolition of a historic Warrington pub.
Borough planning bosses have given the go-ahead for housing development that will mean demolition of the Locally Listed Hermit Inn, in Golborne Road, Hermitage Green, Winwick.
The pub is believed to date from around 1839, although it is thought to have been modified or extended at least seven times between 1849 and 2005.
It has been closed for some time and is in a deteriorating condition following attacks by vandals and a disastrous fire in March last year.
Members of the borough council’s development management committee were told it is believed only the cellars remain intact from the original structure.
Neighbours argued that demolishing the pub and building 12 new houses on the site would damage the Green Belt, create traffic problems and contribute further to an oversupply of housing in the Warrington area.
They claimed the proposed dwellings are too large and out of character with the area and would also have a damaging impact on bungalows in adjacent Gerosa Avenue.
Planning officers recommended the scheme be approved. They accepted that Hermitage Green lay within a historic landscape and there was evidence that a village was established there by at least the 18th century. But it was not thought the pub pre-dated the Victorian period.
They also accepted that residential development would normally be inappropriate within the Green Belt, but pointed out that it could be justified for limited infilling or redevelopment of previously developed sites.
The old pub was now considered to be unsafe and unsightly