From Sheffield Star (www.sheffieldtoday.net)

LAST orders will be called at a Sheffield pub after hundreds of residents lost their fight to keep it open.

Nearly 370 residents in Normanton Springs, near Woodhouse, campaigned against plans to bulldoze their local to build houses.
Burtonwood Brewery said trade at Normanton Springs Hotel had been unsuccessful and it had no option but to close and sell it.
But residents said the pub was the only place they could meet in their village.
Elsie Smith, chairman of Normanton Springs action group, told the city centre planning board: "We are an isolated village with no shops or community facilities.
"There are pubs nearby but people have to go under a filthy underpass or risk their life on the Mosborough parkway. No-one, especially women, wants to walk through the underpass. It's dirty and lonely."
A Burtonwood Brewery spokesman said despite significant investment, the pub had struggled to make a profit for a long time. The brewery received an offer to purchase the site and reluctantly accepted. If sufficent local people had made use of the pub it would have made it financially viable.
"We tried to sell it as a pub and had no offers. It will have to close regardless of the outcome of the planning application. We spent £150,000 to revamp it and nobody is as disappointed as us that it just didn't work."
Councillors were divided. Coun Brian Holmes said: "I hate to see pubs demolished because they play a big part in the community."
But chairman Coun Mike Pye said: "The pub has tried to drum up trade and you either use it or lose it."

as they said "if people would have used it in the first place it would've stayed open"

I don't know the pub or area in question so I'm not in a position to comment too much, but my question in response to that is WHY weren't many people using the pub? Was it a rubbish pub? and if so was it always rubbish, or was it deliberatly run into the ground to make it easier to get permission to get rich quick by selling the land for housing?

Look at the Robin Hood at Little Matlock. This was, I'm told an OK pub, the people running it were retiring and due to the size of the property it meant an expensive price, and was expected to be bought by property investors to convert into apartments.

However it was took on as a pub, bit of effort by offering decent food and real ale, and business is booming like never before.

Surely if a pub is seen as the only community facility then if the management research the local market and ensure their pub's offer is a good one that appeals to their potential customers then it will do well.

However as I said I only know what I have read in the paper, so I may be being totally unfair.
Is the problem that the only ones going in regular were community groups that had meetings their for several hours yet only purchased 2 drinks between them? Or do the locals not go down the local, instead choosing to stay in and drink cans in front of the telly?

Originally posted by Andy C
I don't know the pub or area in question so I'm not in a position to comment too much, but my question in response to that is WHY weren't many people using the pub? Was it a rubbish pub? and if so was it always rubbish, or was it deliberatly run into the ground to make it easier to get permission to get rich quick by selling the land for housing?

Look at the Robin Hood at Little Matlock. This was, I'm told an OK pub, the people running it were retiring and due to the size of the property it meant an expensive price, and was expected to be bought by property investors to convert into apartments.

However it was took on as a pub, bit of effort by offering decent food and real ale, and business is booming like never before.

Surely if a pub is seen as the only community facility then if the management research the local market and ensure their pub's offer is a good one that appeals to their potential customers then it will do well.

However as I said I only know what I have read in the paper, so I may be being totally unfair.
Is the problem that the only ones going in regular were community groups that had meetings their for several hours yet only purchased 2 drinks between them? Or do the locals not go down the local, instead choosing to stay in and drink cans in front of the telly?

The pub has had about a dozen tenants on short term contracts for the past 4 or 5 years. I think that tells you that the brewery have had the pub earmarked for closure for a good while.

Sadly demolishing pubs to build housing is a common trend nowadays.

Something that wasn't reported in the paper was that the Council own some of the land to be developed. I would like to know how much they are getting out of this deal
;)

Soon sheffield will be one big boring city of accomodation! Everytime an old building gets a crack in it it gets bulldozed and re-built in its place is flats,appartmens and hotels!!

Its a case of supply & demand.

If you ran a business that was losing money, would you keep it open?

And as for it being the only community meeting place, people obviously weren't using it or it would have been more successful.

As i understand it,the normanton springs was the victim of the various landlords attempts to better the place.

We ran a pub not to far away from there and we had the same problem

you have the choice of letting anyone in and they wreck it,fight,deal drugs, disrespect you and everyone in there and basically dictate how you run your business for you, thus keeping out the decent punters.

or you enforce the law, like we tried to ,and wait for the word to get out you are a nice place,while the short sighted owners wonder where the profits are going. its a fine balance and time is not on your side,as appears to have happened to the normanton springs. and us as it happens.

a pubs reputation can be killed in seconds,it takes years to get that reputation back,and in some cases it never does

why do locals always protest????? i remeberit happening to the kings head at crosspool........if these people used the boozer in the first place it wouldn't have to shut..........simple innit

Originally posted by kirky
why do locals always protest????? i remeberit happening to the kings head at crosspool........if these people used the boozer in the first place it wouldn't have to shut..........simple innit
yep youre quite right kirky,but there are reasons why they didnt,and now its gone,they wont be able to.

had they supported the place it would still be there,and it was a nice place inside too.

alas it was frequented more by those you wouldnt want in a pub if you could help it, so the locals stayed out, had they tried to reclaim their "local" and supported the manager it would still be there.

Too many pubs anyway.....whatever happened to the good old sing song round the piano in the livingroom.

Knock em all down and start again....then we can have it like good olde worlde coach house.

A flaggon of your finest ale my good man......and a whench for the evening.........sorted