Co. Durham pub ordered to remove cheap beer banners

A pub in Country Durham has been told to remove adverts promoting a cheap beer deal from the front of its building following complaints from local councillors and planning officers.

Greene King tenants Stuart Brown and Diane Garbutt took over the Bonny Moor Hen in Stanhope two-and-a-half-years ago and the pub has had relative success as a popular village local.

They are keen to attract more tourists to the pub but having placing the promotion which read "Pints for Peanuts" — an offer of a £1.99 pint — on the front of their grade-II listed building, they were told this was not in keeping with an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

"We were just trying to generate a bit of business but some busy-body from the local parish council said we were not allowed to advertise on the side of a grade-II building in a conservation area," said Brown.

"I asked what the problem was as we have had banners up there for years and have never had problems before. We were told we had 48 hours to take them down or we would get a £1,000 fine.

"The biggest problem is that we have a grade-I building out the back which we would like to turn into self-contained bunkhouses for the cyclists who come through here, so the last thing we want to do is upset the council.

"To be honest I can understand where they are coming from in terms of promoting the community and surrounding area."

Promotion​

The adverts were provided by landlord Greene King as part of a nationwide promotion and Brown explained how they accepted that the signs had to be removed.

He said: "I phoned my area manager and head office looked into it straight away. They said we are in a conservation area so I was to take them down in the mean time.

"I'm not worried as we're not a bad little business at the end of the day and don't suffer the same problems as town and city pubs with the nearest supermarket being 12 miles away."

County Council Planning Chief Stuart Timmiss told the local paper The Journal​:"The appearance of the building is the key to the quality and character of the area.

"We had a friendly discussion with the landlord, he expressed no concern over our action and he was still able to promote the issue by hanging the banner on the inside of the beer garden fence."