Wirral village pub 'hoping to turn over a new leaf'

The Wellington at 10 The Village in Bebington has applied for a number of changes to update its licence after its take over by a young family who want to turn it back into a community pub. These changes included removing a number of historical conditions and expanding the licence to the outside area.

The application was made by Greene King Brewing and Retailing Limited on behalf of the pub’s new tenant landlords Michelle and Michael Yates. The couple said they have already invested £285,000 into it and plan to stay for at least five to ten years.

Mr Yates said he wanted the pub to become a good place for people to meet and discuss issues, adding: “The previous tenants have never lived on the site in the last few years and we do intend to live on site with a 10 year old son. We do not want that type of noise either. We want to make it a home for ourselves.”

He added: “We would like it to be a community pub. We would like all of you to come in to appreciate the premises and use it for what you want in the community. I want to be part of that because we are neighbours, we are your new neighbours.”

However a number of concerns were raised by neighbours at a Wirral Council licensing committee meeting on June 4 who said noise and music had been a previous problem at the pub and wanted reassurance the same problems wouldn’t happen again. Matt Lynch said customers had been “boisterous” towards his family, thrown bottles, dumped bikes in their driveway, and climbed over their fence.

Mr Lynch lives nextdoor to the pub. He said: “We bought a house next to a pub. We realise that and we are realistic in that respect and reasonable people. We want the pub to be successful in the community. It’s a positive for us,” but added: “The past couple of years have been very difficult.”

He wanted the new landlords to rebuild trust with the community as it was “a village pub right in the middle of a residential area,” adding: “It can be really awful as people leave the property and people are effing and jeffing.”

One woman at the meeting, who wished to remain anonymous, said it “has been quite awful” and had tried to complain about the noise. She said music would come through the floorboards sometimes and when she once approached the previous landlord, she told councillors that “he was quite vile.”

She said: “It had gone from a nice family community pub to somewhere I didn’t want to go into. You didn’t want to go past it.”

However the neighbours said they’d been reassured after meeting the new landlords. One person said: “I hope I can start to bring the kids into the pub again,” adding: “We wish you well. We wish you all the best” leaving Mrs Yates wiping tears from her eyes.

Piers Warne, speaking for TLT as Greene King’s legal representative apologised for what had previously happened, adding: “The previous tenants, they are not here to defend themselves so I won’t say much but the pub needed improvement is all I will say.” He also said they were addressing recent unexpected noise issues caused by customers opening a fire door under the current landlords.

He said customers had previously used the garden unmanaged playing music out of “boombox” speakers. He said the changes including an expanded beer garden behind the pub would be managed and regulated and prevent customers from spilling out across the car park towards neighbouring houses.

Mr Warne said: “They want to hear from their locals who hopefully come back to the pub. Some had stopped going to the pub because of the way it had developed and that is not right,” adding: “We do treat our customers like adults and want them to respect the pub and neighbours.”

To address concerns about noise, the pub has reduced the time the beer garden is open for food and drink by one hour to 10pm. It will also have a meeting with neighbours to discuss any issues going forward with a decision on the licence changes expected to be made within the next five working days.

Wirral Council at the same meeting also decided to grant a licence for a new store, Prenton Convenience, at 338 Woodchurch Road. This will be managed by Puvanenthiran Kandaiah, who manages several other licenced businesses on Wirral including the successful Hulme Hall wedding venue in Port Sunlight.

The new store will sell alcohol between 8am and 11pm and replace a former estate agent. Three people had raised concerns about possible antisocial behaviour but none attended the meeting on June 4 or had responded to council emails.