Town pubs should be encouraged to prosper

I read with despair regarding the high handed approach of the district council’s planning enforcement team about the Queen Victoria public house. You would think in this current economic climate the local council would be supporting businesses rather than imposing petty rules such as ‘red paint’.

In the space of a few short years South Town has lost six pubs - The George, The Great Western, The Stoneleigh, The Raneleigh, The Queens Head, and The Leopard. Shops have closed, such as those in Clemens Street, so all we need is a heavy handed approach from the council. I can’t see how red paint has devalued the property particularly if it was based on an ‘East Enders’ theme.

I am being told that the latest direction by the council is for the pub to remove the external lights - strange, the pub formerly known as The Guards had external lights for decades, retrospective planning laws I guess. So come on you men in grey suits at the council, show some common sense or we’ll end up with another eyesore like the former Stoneleigh Arms. - Tom Lewin, via email.