Landlord clashes with Church Stretton mayor in row over Platinum Jubilee events
A right royal row has broken out in a village and threatens to put a damper on the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Regulars at the Yew Tree Inn in All Stretton had planned an all-village celebration of the event for Friday, with landlady Lauren Medlicott spending a month planning it and getting the necessary permissions to close the road just outside the pub.
But permission was suddenly revoked last week, shortly after Church Stretton mayor Andy Munro had visited the pub and asked Ms Medlicott to move the event to the car park.
She said: "A lot of time and effort had gone into the planning for the street party, including a lot of time spent filling in the necessary paperwork required which as you can imagine was not inconsiderable.
"We had consulted with the village residents about the partial road closure and in particular, the residents of the the care home opposite the pub who were looking forward to celebrating the jubilee with the rest of the villagers.
"It seems strange that shortly after we had a visit from the mayor asking us to move the event to the car park we had a copy of the original permission letter from Shropshire Council, saying simply it had been revoked.
"We were trying to do something for the village, not for the pub or the regulars, this would have been an inclusive event and with closing the road - it would have made it a proper street party."
She said the pub planned to mark the occasion with their own event on Friday to which everyone was welcome.
Councillor Munro, who represents All Stretton on the town council, said he had a number of concerns about the event.
He said: "They include not least the closure of the Shrewsbury Road in front of the pub and the diversion of buses and all traffic which could cause congestion, plus access by emergency services to Stretton Hall nursing home.
"Some of the residents in the village have contacted me about this and I don't think it is appropriate to close the road for the majority of the day when the pub has a large car park that could be used for the event.
"There is an alternative event being held and organised by All Stretton Village Society on Friday and a jubilee celebration the next day and whilst people are free to celebrate in the way they see fit, there has been a lot of time and effort gone into the planning of these events."
