Residents fight to save Red Lion pub in Sidbury

John Louden, of the Save the Red Lion Campaign Group, told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser​ that the group will now seek advice from other campaigners that saved their local.

The steering group will look at issues such as “what planning objections can be mustered to block a potential change-of-use application”.

This includes listing the pub as an asset of community value, which means that, if a pub is to go on the market, a community group has six months to find the money to put a bid in to buy it.

“It’s the last pub in the village — we used to have one other pub,” said Louden. “We see the Red Lion as one of the focal points here. It’s a place in which people can socialise, and it should continue that way.

“Yes, you could say we could get on the bus to go somewhere else, but that isn’t an option. We will be losing a part of the village if the pub closes.”

He added: “Our job now is to look at the options. We hope a pub group will buy it, invest some money into it,  and make a go of it.

“However, we are concerned that might not happen, so we have to be careful someone does not change the use of the pub. We are just thinking of the possible options and hope to get some guidance from other community groups that have saved their local pub.”

A spokeswoman for Punch Taverns said: “We appreciate the concerns of local residents but we review our estate regularly to ensure that our sites are maximising their potential and may explore other options regarding the future of our less sustainable sites.

“Following such a review, a decision has been made to put the Red Lion on the open market for sale.”