Villagers win fight to list pub as an ‘asset’

Campaigners are celebrating after taking a step forward in their bid to save their village pub.

A group of villagers in Gedney Hill have been fighting against plans to turn The Red Lion into a family home and have now won their battle to have the building listed as an Asset of Community Value.
The decision by South Holland District Council means the campaigners now have six months to come up with viable alternatives to the sale of the building to a developer.
They intend to work with the pub’s current owner Elgood’s Brewery to secure its future as a “community facility and viable business”.
Alex Brown, of the campaign group, said: “We recognise that it is not in anyone’s best interests to have an empty and decaying Grade 2 listed building when it could still be brought back into use with a moderate amount of time, effort and capital expenditure.
“We have now organised a public meeting to bring together all those who have an interest in seeing The Red Lion trading again – local people, parish and district councillors and Elgoods management will all be invited to attend.
“We’d like to engage all of those people with an interest to find out what their hopes, suggestions and visions for the future are for The Red Lion site.”
The meeting will be held on Thursday, October 29, at 7pm in Gedney Hill Village Hall.
Just six weeks ago, campaigners claimed a small victory in their fight after a planning application for the pub to be converted to a family home was turned down on the ground that proposed external alterations were “inappropriate and harmful” to the historic character of the building.
But the decision left the way open for revised plans to be submitted which would still see the pub lost to the village.
The campaigners have set up a petition to save The Red Lion, which can still be signed at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/redliongedneyhill.
Anyone wanting to find out more about the campaign can also receive regular updates on the group’s Facebook page by going to https://www.facebook.com/groups/redlion.gedneyhill