Widespread support for Bath pub in COVID planning dispute
The Hare and Hounds might have to tear down its outdoor bar and terrace
Last updated 30th Apr 2021
Hundreds of people have offered their support to a Bath pub that has been told it might have to tear down its outdoor bar and terrace.
The Hare and Hounds on Lansdown Road built both during lockdown, in the hope expanding their outdoor area would help them survive the pandemic.
On the day pubs were allowed to reopen earlier this month we reported from the scene and captured the delight of customers soaking up the atmosphere, which you can see in our report here.
Both the bar and terrace were built without planning permission though, so Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) Council has now threatened they could forcibly remove both.
The Managing Director of the Bath Pub Company, which owns the Hare and Hounds, released a video on Twitter in response complaining, which has been shared hundreds of times.
So we caught up with him to find out more about the dispute and ask why the pub hadn't just applied for planning permission in the first place.
"As a result of us going public with this we have had quite an overwhelming number of messages of support and the strength of feeling has taken me back a little bit," he tells us.
"It's been great, it's been quite humbling, but it's stirred up a bit of a hornet's nest and it's got clearly on Bath (and North East Somerset) Council's radar.
"We have had some contact and we've had some quite productive contact which is encouraging."
Joe tells us how seeing the reaction flood in on Twitter yesterday (29/04) felt like being "in the eye of a storm".
"I've been spending all my time trying to respond to people," he says.
"I was up this morning at about 5:30am trying to respond to all the emails I've had.
"It's been, humbling is the word I keep coming back to because people are being genuinely so kind and generous in the comments and the help that they want to give, because I think they see what we've done here as only having a positive, it's positive for us in terms of recovery, it's positive for our staff who work here and it's positive for the community who come and use it.
"I think people look at the area and think, this looks great, it looks wonderful, what is the problem here?"
If the pub is forced to remove its outdoor bar and terrace Joe told us the impact that is likely to have.
"If that happened it would be very bad news indeed," he says.
"We spent a lot of money on it, you might say you should've got planning permission first but you know, we have spent a lot of money on it.
"It would really hamper our ability to trade, it would make a massive negative impact on our sales, which is not good for us.
"It would mean we would have to lay staff off and it would mean we'd go back to a place where you're not able to provide the trading area and space that people love."
The pub has now submitted a retrospective planning application but there have been some people asking why the pub did not apply for planning permission originally, so we put the question to Joe.
"Yeah I hear that argument and I understand that," he says.
"I would say that in ordinary times that would probably be a stronger argument, I would counter and say these are as far from ordinary times as you can get.
"This outside bar went up last year at the end of a first lockdown period where our business was overnight told to shut for three months, our income was switched off immediately, and it was a do or die situation."
He adds that if they had not acted fast to complete the work then the pub "was at very real risk".
In response Councillor Tim Ball, cabinet member for Housing, Planning and Economic Development, said: “We have already worked with Mr Cussens to resolve a separate planning matter at his Marlborough Tavern premises and there is a solution available for the Hare and Hounds.
“Our planning officers have made clear to Mr Cussens that we want to work with him on this solution and that we could support an alternative in this location, however he has continued with the works without planning permission.
"Notwithstanding COVID, the council does still have a statutory duty to investigate all reported breaches of planning control and respond appropriately.
"No formal Notice has been served at this time as, through discussion with officers, Mr Cussens has exercised his right to apply for retrospective planning permission.
“Our officers across planning and public protection have been working with business across B&NES to help them reopen, for example with our pavement licences of which 52 have been granted with only six refusals and we will continue to try and find a solution with Mr Cussens.”