The Cooperage: Newcastle MP demands action to save medieval pub

Action to save a 15th Century former pub has been demanded by a city's MP.

Chi Onwurah is calling for the owner of The Cooperage in Newcastle to either complete renovations on the building or sell it.

The Apartment Group, which had announced plans to turn it into a hotel, has been approached for comment.

The Newcastle Central MP Ms Onwurah said "serious concerns" about the medieval building's condition had been raised.

"Despite scaffolding and covers, renovation works seem not to be in progress or near completion," she said.

"I hope that if the current owners are unable to complete the necessary work at The Cooperage, then the property will be speedily sold to those able to revitalise this important and valued building."

Ms Onwurah said she had written to both the Apartment Group and Caroline Dineage, the Minister for Heritage, to raise the "deep concerns of residents and visitors" about the state of the building.

More than 24,000 people have signed an online petition to protect the site, which has been unused for more than a decade and is on Historic England's at-risk list, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Save the Cooperage group co-ordinator Phil Clarke said local residents were fed up with "year after year" of waiting.

"There are no plans being submitted, no evidence of anything being done," he said.

"If Apartment Group can't do something then they have got to give it to someone who will."

Originally a merchant's house, The Cooperage was also a barrel-maker's shop and a grocer's before becoming a pub in 1974.

It was popular in the 1980s and 1990s before closing in 2009.

The Apartment Group, which also runs Newcastle's As You Like It and House of Smith, revealed plans to turn the pub into a boutique hotel in September last year, but warned it "won't happen overnight".

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