We've spent almost £300k turning troublesome bar into 'village pub'

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Michelle and Michael Yates hope to make the pub a key part of the village community.

A Wirral pub is hoping to return to its former glory after issues made a desirable town ‘quite horrendous’.

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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.

The pair reopened the pub last month after a refurbishment and have since been seen enforcing rules aimed at reducing disruption to the village community, such as ensuring no one is drinking outside after 10pm. In a Facebook post, the couple said: “From 10pm at night we are not allowed anyone to be drinking outside, this includes the front of the pub and also the beer garden. We would really appreciate your cooperation with this. Many thanks.”

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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 ten-year-old son. We do not want that type of noise either. We want to make it a home for ourselves.”

Michelle and Michael Yates hope to make the Wellington pub a key part of the Bebington village community. Image: The Wellington via FacebookMichelle and Michael Yates hope to make the Wellington pub a key part of the Bebington village community. Image: The Wellington via Facebook
Michelle and Michael Yates hope to make the Wellington pub a key part of the Bebington village community. Image: The Wellington via Facebook | The Wellington via Facebook

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.

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Mr Lynch lives next door 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’.

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The Wellington, Bebington, Wirral. Image: Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia CommonsThe Wellington, Bebington, Wirral. Image: Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Wellington, Bebington, Wirral. Image: Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons | Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

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.

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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.”

The beer garden is open for food and drink until 10pm - an hour reduction from its previous 11pm rules -. in a bid to address noise concerns. The pub landlords 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.

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