RESIDENTS have been urged to support a village pub after a controversial planning application was approved by councillors.

The owners of the Crown Inn in Catton applied for partly retrospective permission to offer bed and breakfast provision as well as a podiatry clinic, along with a number of other changes to windows and providing a shed and decking area.

The application was approved despite opposition from villagers – the application received 65 objections and just seven comments in support.

Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of Tynedale Local Area Council, applicant and owner John Gray insisted that he was only trying to make the troubled pub viable.

He said: “The reason the application is before you is the Crown has been closed in the last 25 years as much as it has been open.

“It’s been operated since 1999 with five different owners, all trying to run a full bar with a full meal service – all of which subsequently closed in financial failure.

“It seems obvious to me that the only way to make a success after five failures in a row is to do something slightly different, and that’s why we have brought in the bed and breakfast – which I think is a significant part of many pubs, and I wouldn’t have thought it was controversial.”

Mr Gray added that his partner was a podiatrist and therefore they thought they would add this aspect to the business to increase footfall.

Objections to the plans centred around the fact that the application would threaten the viability of the pub due to a decrease in the size of the bar area and would mean the village would lose a community facility.

But Mr Gray felt the objections had been the result of a “one man campaign”.

He continued: “A meeting was held at the village hall about the future of the Crown without inviting us.

“Not one person asked me what we were going to do. I believe I’m designing it not to fail and the previous owners are the ones who failed.

"I believe this is the right size for the business going forward.

“This was always intended to be and will remain predominately a public house.”

A number of councillors at the meeting felt the development was positive and urged the public to support the new owners.

Coun. Derek Kennedy said: “Residents have some concerns, but if I was a resident I would be looking at this through different spectacles.

“I think this is a good thing, this is looking for the business to remain sustainable which has been a real challenge over the years.

“The world is changing and people’s habits are changing. What I see here is someone putting in an application trying to make sure this public facility continues.”

Coun. John Riddle added: “I think if the 65 people who objected supported the pub it might not have had to have an application. The objections aren’t planning issues.

“It still could be a community pub if the community back it rather than fight it.”

Coun. Trevor Cessford echoed the sentiments, and said: “People don’t like change and when the pub is at risk of closing they like it even less.

“They talk about it being a community hub and a focal point for the village, but if it is closed it’s neither of those things.

“It clearly wasn’t viable before because it was closed. It has to be made viable and you do that by diversifying.”

The application was approved unanimously by the councillors present.