Hundreds fight to stop sale of pub for housing
by Tony Halstead
More than 700 people are fighting to stop Punch Taverns selling off a West Yorkshire pub in a proposed £1.5m property deal.
A residents' action group claims Punch wants to cash in on the land value of the Wheatley pub in Ben Rhydding, Ilkley, and repeated requests for the company to re-open it have been ignored.
Rival factions are set to clash head on at a public inquiry in six months' time.
The Wheatley, situated on the fringe of the famous Ilkley Moor, has been closed since July 2002 a supposed victim of the foot-and-mouth epidemic but locals claim Punch has made little effort to find a lessee to run the business.
The inquiry next January follows an appeal by developer Antler Housing into Bradford Council's refusal to allow houses to be built on the site.
Campaign group Save Us Pub (SUP) said that it is fighting to save Ben Rhydding's last pub and safeguard a valuable community resource. SUP spokesman Sandy MacPherson said there was huge local support for re-opening the Wheatley.
'We do not accept Punch's claims that it cannot find anybody to lease the pub and we suspect very strongly the company has not tried very hard.
SUP has the backing of the Campaign For Real Ale, which claims its Public House Viability Test shows the Wheatley has a future.
The Wheatley is located in an exclusive suburb of Ilkley that boasts some of the most expensive housing in West Yorkshire.
Bradford Council wants to retain the building as a pub and plans to engage a firm of trade consultants to carry out a feasibility study on its trading potential.
Punch has denied that its position has anything to do with the land value of the site.
'We have been trying to recruit a licensee to operate the site for some considerable time and one option open is to sell the property, said a spokesman.
