Northumberland pub The Plough on the Hill at West Allerdean set to reopen after new landlord granted licence

The Plough on the Hill at West Allerdean, about five miles south-west of Berwick, opened to great fanfare following a £1.3million refurbishment in September 2017, with MasterChef: The Professionals winner Gary Maclean at the helm in the kitchen.

However, owners Robert Kingsley and Sarah Carmichael then closed the pub in April last year, before announcing in October that they had decided to sell in order to pursue other business interests.

A new premises licence has now been granted to experienced publican Alan Newton, of Inn Trade Solutions, who wants to make The Plough Inn a ‘family-orientated country pub with great food and a great restaurant’.

A Northumberland County Council hearing was held to determine whether or not to grant the licence as 22 neighbours had objected to the plans, primarily over the hours for serving alcohol and food being until 1am seven days a week and the noise and other nuisance this could cause.

Some of the concerns related to a bid for an outdoor marquee, which was subsequently dropped from the application, while two additional conditions relating to noise had been agreed with the council’s environmental health team.

Nonetheless, the three councillors on the sub-committee decided that the drinking and eating hours should be limited to midnight from Sunday to Thursday, due to the ‘particularly quiet rural setting of the premises’.

Earlier in the hearing, Richard Arnot, of Ward Hadaway, representing the applicant, said: “If people come for a meal and spend a not-insubstantial amount of money, we don’t want to chase them out at 11pm.

“It’s highly unlikely for there to be any need or any justification to trade beyond 11pm or 12am on weekdays.”

He suggested that residents’ concerns may have been exacerbated by the ‘cavalier approach’ of the previous owners, which he claimed had annoyed locals.

“Mr Newton wants to restore it to a country pub, which, with all due respect to the Kingsleys, is what the offer should always have been,” he added.

Cllr Neil Armstrong, of Shoreswood Parish Council, said: “We welcome a local pub, which has been there for donkey’s years, but we have concerns about the late hours, parking and noise.”

Summing up, Mr Arnot said: “We understand the concerns of residents and they have had a bad experience in the past.

“We are much wiser, but we have to have a sustainable business. We don’t want to risk causing problems, because that risks our investment.

“We are more than confident we can contain noise and we don’t want to disturb anyone, because we want the residents to come back.”

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