It is widely known that the most recent tenancy of the Hare and Hounds by an inexperienced landlord was not a success in financial terms. From the perspective of former regulars responding to WACA’s survey, this can be attributed to poor business planning characterised by a rash abandonment of what had worked well under the preceding tenants:

• The food offering was significantly poorer in quality, variety and in failing to cater adequately to alternative dietary requirements. Vegan diets were initially not catered for at all, and most dishes were poorly presented with calorific quantity over quality.
• The ambience was undermined by internal decoration incorporating slogans and imagery evoking a caricature of Yorkshire that made the interior appear to be trying to cater to tourists rather than regulars, who felt unwelcome.
• The accommodation was not integrated into the pub’s other offerings. Bed and no breakfast were provided anonymously through AirBnB, with guidance that the village cafe 1/2 a mile away and not open on Sundays could be used instead.
• Opening times: The previous tenants had gained considerable trade from Bank Holiday opening.  The nature and location of the pub encouraged extended day visits from locals as well as many groups enjoying walks up the hill to visit over long weekends.  The recent tenants initially chose to close Mondays, including ALL bank holiday Mondays.  As their business model drove business away, they proceeded to close Tuesdays, and then Wednesdays.

Potential Future Viability

Whilst the viability assessment provided by the developer as part of their Change Of Use submission claims that the Robin Hood in Pecket Well has the comparative advantage of stronger visibility, this is clearly not the case, as evidenced by the number of brown ‘Hare & Hounds’ tourist destination signs running up from Hebden Bridge to Old Town (and even in Pecket Well). The Hare and Hounds enjoys an enviable rural location at the intersection of a bus route on the road connecting Old Town to Midgley (which has also suffered the loss of its village pub) and well-used walking routes leading from Hebden Bridge to Wadsworth Moor and the Calderdale Way.

The WACA survey shows that there are hundreds of local residents from both Old Town village and nearby Hebden Bridge willing for the pub to return to its former glory and to support a community-based effort to revive it.

CAMRA and the Plunkett Foundation, of which WACA is a member, can both provide ample evidence of community pubs thriving. See for example, CAMRA’s ‘Community Owned and Community Run Pubs’ page at https://camra.org.uk/community-pubs.

To quote: A remarkable statistic around community owned pubs is that, to date, they have a 100% success rate. A few have been sold on to the private sector once the business was re-established but all the rest have survived and thrived.

Council policy HW4 says that proposers of change of use must show evidence of having consulted with community groups to explore ways of keeping the pub going as a community enterprise. It would be helpful if individuals commenting on the application could indicate their commitment to support such a bid.