Plans to demolish 1840s pub withdrawn

An historic Wirral pub has been thrown a lifeline after a planning application to demolish it was withdrawn by the building's owners.

The Glegg Arms in Heswall, which dates back to the 1840s, closed to the public last year with Whitbread plc applying for planning permission to replace the building.

The Heswall Society has campaigned for the front facade of the building, which is more than 150 years old, to be saved.

A Whitbread representative said the company had commissioned a heritage expert to conduct an independent assessment of the building, and added that a further planning application would be submitted in due course.

The Glegg Arms, on Chester Road, originally opened as Crabbe's Inn but was renamed the Glegg Arms by 1850, according to the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) lobbying group.

The pub was taken over by Whitbread in the 1980s and operated as a Beefeater restaurant until 4 July.

Whitbread, which owns both the Beefeater and Premier Inn brands, closed the pub as part of a planned restructure which it said would see 112 restaurants shuttered and 126 others sold.

The company said the Glegg Arms had been included as part of plans to replace some of its "lower-returning" restaurants with "higher-returning" hotel rooms.

Chair of the Heswall Society Steve Anderson said his group was not against redevelopment of the site, and supported the Premier Inn hotel plans.

But he added: "What we are against is the fact that we lose a historic building.

"What we want to see is maintaining the front facade of the building which hasn't changed in over 150 years.

"This is the gateway into Heswall."

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