Planning bid to reopen Shropshire village pub
The only pub in a north Shropshire village is set to reopen after more than 18 months.
Plans have been unveiled to revamp the Red Lion in Myddle, near Wem, after it was snapped up by developers for £430,000.
Myddle-based Shingler Homes Ltd, which bought the site in June at auction, has submitted a planning application to improve the building.
This will include the bar and creating a restaurant area and beer garden.
If planning permission is granted, work is scheduled to take place in January next year with the re-opening scheduled for the spring or summer.
The pub closed in January last year.
Residents in the village have today welcomed the news that the pub will re-open. Local Phil Keyse said: "I am delighted that it will be re-opening and I think I speak for a lot of residents in the village.
"We have done a community-led plan and a significant number of people said they want to see the Red Lion re-open and the heart be put back into the community."
Jeremy Shingler, MD of Shingler Homes Ltd, said: "We're hoping to obtain planning consent by the end of the year and start on site soon after Christmas, with a view to being open by about June.
"We will be altering the bar, creating a new restaurant area, kitchens and beer garden space.
"We will be having a bar manager and will be looking at recruiting the management team soon after Christmas."
Mr Shingler, who remained tight-lipped about how much the revamp could cost, was unsure of how many jobs it would create.
The Red Lion closed for business on January 21, 2012 due to dwindling trade, lack of investment and the personal circumstances of the former owners.
The applicants bought the pub at auction in June to re-open it for the benefit of the community.
