SaveThe Storey Arms
Osgathorpe
Aiming to save the Storey Arms and be the first community owned pub in Leicestershire
The Storey Arms features on East Midlands Today!
East Midlands today have been presenting a 3-part feature on community pubs. Osgathorpe and the Storey Arms was the subject of the third in the series. It gives an excellent overview of the current situation. The swell behind community pubs is growing, and we are determined to Save the Storey! See the clip below (Storey Arms starts at 1:55).
June 2014 - where it all started...
"The place needs to be passed on, either to continue as a pub or to be offered on an open market at the best price to whoever takes it," Mr Collin said. "As a community person, I would prefer to see it keep going as a pub." (Leicester Mercury June 2014)
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Martin Buczkiewicz – Parish Council
Phil Collin – The Storey Arms
James Eddy – Osgathorpe Community Pub Limited
Recent Updates
Change of Use Application Is Refused
12th October 2023
The owner of the Storey Arms applied to North West District Council (NWLDC) Planning Department for a change of use from a pub to a private residence in September 2023. The OCPL was set up to try to save the pub for the community and we were therefore strongly opposed to the change which would mean the loss of the pub forever. Following a leaflet drop and the erection of the posters in the village, NWLDC received 144 individually written objections to the Change of Use with only 4 in favour. Many thanks to the all the villagers and the other objectors for such an amazing response!
On the 10th October the planning committee published their decision: Refusal to permit the change of use.
Full details can be found on NWLDC's website: Planning Reference: 23/01063/FUL
https://www.nwleics.gov.uk/pages/view_planning_applications
This is great news and we hope that we can now have a dialogue with the owner on a way forward to save the pub.
Our comments on the “Storey Arms Community Group” letter seeking commitments of financial support
12th October 2023
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The Letter: A letter has been circulated to villagers who registered their objection to the proposed change of use of the Storey Arms by The Storey Arms Community Group. The Letter encourages residents to commit to buying shares but has provided no more information about the share issue.
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Who are the Storey Arms Community Group? This group appears to have been set up recently in response to the opposition to the Change of Use of the pub to a private residence. No contact names are included, and no one has contacted either the OCPL or the PC.
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Who are the Osgathorpe Community Pub Limited (OCPL), i.e. this website: The Parish Council (PC) set up the OCPL in 2014 as a subgroup of the PC. The OCPL is not anonymous, it regularly reports at PC meetings and anyone who has expressed an interest or views in what we have been trying to do has been welcomed. The management committee has been kept small up to now as the owner of the Storey Arms has not wanted to sell at a reasonable price and therefore, we were not making any progress. If this situation changes then we hope lots of people will get involved. The OPCL circulated the flyer suggesting commenting on the proposed change of use.
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The Black Horse Example: The Letter refers to the Black Horse Group at Grimstone, who have done a fantastic job in buying their pub. The OCPL has been in contact with them (and other successful communities) to learn from their experiences in funding and purchasing the pub. It should be noted that there are clear differences in their situation compared to ours which is not made clear in the letter:
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The Black Horse had been a successful pub and was sold to the community for a price supported by an independent valuation.
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Our desktop valuation of the Storey Arms (the owner has not allowed a full independent valuation) shows the price being asked for the pub is well above its market value. In addition to this high price, the pub will need a significant amount spend on the building and facilities
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Grants and Buying Share : In the past we did have money from a 106 grant (as mentioned in The Letter). This was £200,000 to buy the pub and up to £100,000 for renovations. This allowed us to offer a significant premium over the value of the pub, but unfortunately all these offers were rejected. Due to a clause in the agreement between NWLDC and the Developer, this money was only available for a limited time. The Community Ownership Fund (COF) offers a new opportunity for a significant grant. However, to be considered for the grant we would need an independent valuation of the pub, an agreed price (with a justification if this price is above valuation), and a community share issue and business plan. The OCPL / PC are looking at ways to engage with the owner to see if we can agree a price that would allow us to progress with a grant application and also put in place all the details needed for a share issue to buy the pub.
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Change of Use: The Change of Use application has been rejected by NWLDC so the owner will now be required to continue to operate as a pub.
New Leicester Mercury Article on Change of Use Application
28th September 2023
On the 24th August 2023 The Leicester Mercury published an article titled: ‘Fight to save village's only pub lost with plan to turn 'unviable' business into house’. We wrote into them to point out a number of factual inaccuracies in the article and to put our view that the application for Change of use of the pub should be rejected.
On the 25th September they published a new article which reflects the views of the OCPL and the majority of the village:
New hope council could help villagers save their last pub: Link to Article
Change of Use Application
28th September 2023
The owner of the Storey Arms has applied to North West District Council (NWLDC) Planning Department for a change of use from a pub to a private residence. The OCPL was set up to try to save the pub for the community (more background on this can been found in the History Tab on this site) and we are therefore strongly opposed to the change which would mean the loss of the pub forever.
Following our leaflet drop and the erection of the posters in the village, NWLDC received 144 individually written objections to the Change of Use with only 4 in favour. Many thanks to the all the villagers and the other objectors for such an amazing response.
Planning Reference: 23/01063/FUL – Change of Use from Public House to One Dwelling - The Storey Arms 41 Main Street Osgathorpe Loughborough Leicestershire LE12 9TA
https://www.nwleics.gov.uk/pages/view_planning_applications
Some Key Points On Why We Believe the Change of Use Should be Rejected:
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The OCPL, on behalf of the village has made 4 offers to buy the pub, significantly above its market value (based on formal valuations). The Owner has rejected these saying he wanted double this to sell.
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The Pub has been up for sale for £430 thousand (more than double its market value). It has not sold. This failure to sell is not because of its locality, condition, or its potential to be a successful village pub, but because of this totally unrealistic price. The OCPL's latest cash offer is still on the table.
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The applicants state that the OCPL did not apply for any grants or to issue shares to raise money for a higher bid. The offers made by the OCPL did include money from grants. Grants (e.g. The Community Ownership Fund offered by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities) and share offerings require an independent valuation. As the OCPL’s offer already significantly exceeded the valuation of the pub we would not be able to justify raising additional money to pay double the asset’s worth.
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We believe The Storey Arms is economically viable. It has not been run to its full potential for 20 years, was only being opened irregularly then finally closed in 2020. It is therefore not surprising that it has not been profitable. It could be viable as a pub with the right ownership. The OCPL planned to have it operate as a not for profit pub and meeting place for the village.
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The suggestion that the building is currently vacant is incorrect, the accommodation on the 1st floor, that is ancillary to the business, is occupied by the family.
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The implication that the pub is derelict and so any other use would be an improvement is incorrect. Although little money has been spent on the pub over many years, with the right ownership the facilities could be improved, and the viability of the pub restored.
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The applicant states that we have another public house in the Parish. To get to this nearest pub you must walk about a mile down an unlit single lane and then cross the busy, fast, A512 road on a blind bend, which again is unlit. This is dangerous to do at night by foot or bike and is especially a problem for the elderly in the village who used to frequent the Storey Arms before it closed.
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With our primary school, post office and village shop now shut, the loss of our last remaining pub and meeting place would be very detrimental for the village and community.
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We have the money and the support of the village to buy and run the pub for the community, so there is no justification for the change of use to be approved
Osgathorpe Village Voice Update
24 May 2024
In October 2023 North West Leicestershire District Council refused the change of use application for the Storey Arms pub to become a residential property. Following on from this, on the 1st April, an enforcement notice took effect relating to ‘Matters Which Appear to Constitute a Breach of Planning Control’, i.e. the public house being changed to a residential dwellinghouse from 2020 without permission. Details of the notice can be found on the NWLDC planning website.
Reference: E/23/00328/COU.
We are continuing to try to engage with the owner to buy the pub for the community and we hope that the enforcement notice will ensure that the pub will either be opened or sold to be someone who wants to run it as a pub.
We have been told that the owners have received some offers to buy the pub. If this is the case, and the prospective buyers want to run the Storey Arms as a pub, then the OCPL would want to be supportive. We have said to the owners that we would be happy to meet with any prospective buyers if that would help give them confidence that the village would support them in making the pub a success.