Pubco ordered to demolish decking

A pub operator has been ordered to demolish a £30,000 exterior dining and decking area because it failed to apply for the correct planning consent for the building.

Owners of the Midlands-based Innsobriety pub company built the structure as an emergency measure after last summer's floods led to the main pub being condemned.

The company said building the outdoor kitchen and dining area was the only way it kept 10 members of staff employed at the Fish at Wixford in Warwickshire.

Company director Julia White said waiting for planning permission would have taken 12 weeks, by which time the summer would have be over. Innsobriety's application for retrospective planning consent has been turned down and now Stratford council says the structure must be removed.

"The only way we could limit our losses after the floods was to build an outside kitchen and decked seating area. "We thought the council would have taken a sympathetic view," White said. "We judged these to be exceptional circumstances and later asked the council whether we could negotiate about the main core of their planning complaints," she said.

The Punch-owned Fish was deluged in four feet of flood water after the nearby River Arrow burst its banks in last July's floods. The storms destroyed the pub's kitchens, restaurant and the entire ground floor besides washing away a newly-built smoking shelter where the emergency complex now stands.

The main pub building finally re-opened its doors just before Easter after eight months of repairs which cost the company £100,000. White said the company planned to appeal against the council's decision and had taken expert advice to formulate its case. "We only had the best interests of our staff and the company in mind and we are bitterly disappointed at the council's stance," she added.

Innsobriety, based in Alcester, Warwickshire, runs seven other pubs around the county on Punch and Enterprise Inns leases with another pub operated on a Mitchells & Butlers franchise lease.