Plans to bulldoze Cannock pub approved
A Cannock pub will be bulldozed after plans to replace it with a shop and micro-brewery were given the green light.
The Ascot Tavern, on Longford Road, which has been closed since 2017, will be knocked down.
Up to 25 jobs could be created at the Co-op store which will replace the pub.
Work is will start later this year with the Co-op expected to open in 2020.
The once-popular pub was subject of a fierce campaign when former owner Punch Taverns launched a bid to turn it into a shop in 2016. Locals were successful in saving the pub but their joy turned out to be short-lived as it closed its doors a year later.
The latest bid to build a shop, as well as a microbrewery, on the site was approved by councillors on Wednesday night.
David Pickford, Senior Planner at Pegasus Group, which worked with the applicant Globe Homes on the plans, said: "
"The site had been vacant for more than two years, and it is clear it was no longer a valued community facility and had no prospect of being reused as a public house.
“Crucially, the approved plans include a micro-pub and a local shopping facility and as such the proposed redevelopment will not result in the loss of a community facility, only the replacement of one community facility with two new ones.”
