As many of you in the Headley Way area know, the White Horse recently applied for an extension to its opening hours, to stay open into the early hours and also to open in the morning from 9am. They also asked for an extension for the time that under-18s could be in the dining area. Ruth and I have heard several complaints recently about the pub and the behaviour in the local area that flows from it. Local residents have been especially concerns about this application, with serious worries about the impact of later night opening and the danger that the pub would become more like a night club. Residents organised a petition, submitted representations, held a meeting at which I discussed their concerns and where several families and elderly couples asked me to represent them at the hearing.
The hearing occurred yesterday evening and here’s the result of it. Greene King attended and, at the beginning, announced a very significant change to their application — they removed any extension of night-time hours completely. The application, then, was only for morning opening from 9am, and for the extension of times for under-18s attending. They explained this was because they wanted to emphasis the pub as a food establishment rather than a ‘liquor-driven’ location. As a result, the police withdrew their request for a condition to have door staff but retained several other conditions. I spoke, reflecting residents’ concerns and trying to make sure that there were no loopholes. The committee accepted the revised application, with the police’s conditions attached.
So, in short, while the pub can now open earlier in the morning, it can not stay open any later than it presently does. This is a very significant climbdown on their part and I sense that this is largely due to the hard work of residents, led by Peter Combey, who organised the petition. He deserves a round of applause!
What also came out of this event was that Greene King have agreed to have an evening when they will host residents and allow you to talk with the licensee about your concerns and what can be done to overcome them. I have offered to help arrange that meeting and will do so in the near future — please drop me a line if you want to attend.
Of course, there may still be issues with how the White Horse works. Personally, I am pleased that a condition to have bouncers was not imposed because that would have institutionalised the night-club-like aspect: much better to keep them to their word that they want to turn the venue into a ‘family-friendly’ pub. We do need to monitor this and I ask you, please, to contact me or Ruth Wilkinson if you are affected by any incidents involving the pub in the coming months. Needless to say, we’re ready to work with you and the brewery to make sure we get the improvements that are said to be on their way.