Potters Bar - CAMRA Potteries

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THE COACHMAKERS SITUATION Over the past couple of months, The Potteries Branch of CAMRA and The Potteries Pub Presentation Group have been working closely together in order to try and save The Coachmakers Arms on Lichfield Street in Hanley. In the following article, landlord Phil Clarke talks passionately about the pub, what can be done to save it, and the pub business in general. I would like to take this opportunity to inform the readers of Potters Bar as to where we stand with regards to fate of The Coachmakers Arms in Hanley. As many of you may be aware, the long-running campaign to save The Coachmakers has all but run its course; despite the efforts of everyone involved, the planning permission to go ahead with the development of the site has gone forward. We plan to co-ordinate our efforts with a number of interested groups and organisations, in order to maximise our impact. We will keep you fully informed as to the progress of this last ditch attempt to save The Coachmakers from the bulldozers. It is worth remembering that at no point have we ever sort to halt or prevent the redevelopment of Hanley; on the contrary, we only wished to become part of the new scheme, and keep what is best of the old alongside the new. It’s a good combination, and it works very well, too, if it were not for the blinkered and short-sighted planning committee and developers at Realis, who have consistently refused to even contemplate incorporating the pub in its plans. It is at the eleventh hour that we welcome news from CAMRA Headquarters that they have launched a campaign to save our traditional pubs, even though it is highly ironic given their habit of getting in bed with the pub giants in our towns and cities, giants that may be responsible for the loss of so many smaller pubs, all of which creates an wobbly playing field. But like the seventh cavalry riding into town, then jumping on the back of an already rolling bandwagon, it may be too late for the Coach and the thousands that have gone before it. Nevertheless, it is welcome news: we must all do whatever we can to stop the few remaining traditional pubs becoming consumed by the High Street, to be lost forever. There have been many nails hammered into the coffin of the traditional pub since Margaret Thatcher took on the industry some twenty years ago, not the least being the arrival of the superstore and superpub. The second highest tax on a pint in Europe, 20% VAT, the ABV Tax levy, and the demanding, uncaring, unsympathetic pubco’s; you have to wonder how any pubs have survived at all, testament to the traditional ales and discerning drinkers who fuel this ever-expanding market. So what then for the price of a cheap pint in Wetherspoons with the CAMRA discount vouchers? I think that in the not so distant future, we may have all paid a very high price indeed. As for The Coachmakers, our resolve is undiminished and we will go all the way to save this wonderful pub, As the saying goes, the show ain’t over until the fat lady sings; however, I fear that she has been given her five minute curtain call. Phil Clarke, landlord of The Coachmakers Arms on Lichfield Street in Hanley SUMMER 2012 POTTERS BAR 13
POTTERIES PUB PRESERVATION GROUP POTTERIES PUB PRESERVATION GROUP In February, I visited Cardiff, a city that lives up to the over-used adjective, “vibrant.” High and mighty classical buildings boasting columns, entablatures, sculpted figures and statues vie for one’s attention with challenging new buildings such as the Wales Millenium Centre - the koh-i-noor of recent architectural developments around Cardiff Bay. A Blue Badge guide took our coach party around the city, pointing out a tile and terracotta extravaganza of a pub called the Golden Cross Inn. Redevelopment, we were told, almost did for this grandiose expression of the ceramist’s art, but guess what? The local authority was persuaded to retain the building. Inevitably, I thought about similar fat-out-of-the-fire cases in Liverpool, Birmingham and Norwich and wondered why our own council in Stoke-on-Trent – along with their friends, Realis Estates – are so unwilling even to consider the notion of incorporating the Coachmakers’ Arms into the planned redevelopment of the city centre. The Potteries Pub Preservation Group has been at the forefront of the battle to save the Coach since the Spring of 2008. We have organised numerous meetings, staged fund-raising talks and applied – and failed – to have the pub statutorily listed by English Heritage. We even produced the protest boards that protestors held aloft outside the pub for the benefit of media photographers. We do not accept that the pub faces certain extinction, and have continued to battle for its retention. To this end, we have been in contact with historian and Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, Tristram Hunt. He replied: 14 POTTERS BAR SUMMER 2012 Potteries Pub Preservation Group Aim: to investigate, protect and promote public houses of special character and historic interest in the Potteries and Borough of Newcastle PPPG AND THE COACHMAKERS – AN UPDATE “Instinctively, I am in favour of preservation, but in this case I think the broader redevelopment requirements for the centre of Hanley unfortunately necessitate its demolition… . From conversations I have had with Realis and the City Regeneration team, preservation and incorporation would have posed a set of problems, namely that the Coachmakers’ is a mid terrace and that it would have been out of kilter with the rest of the shopping centre.” PPPG now has to look elsewhere for support and ideas, and we will be doing exactly that in the forthcoming months. In the meantime, letters to the Sentinel, supporting the campaign – including ones from P. Skinner of Etruria and CAMRA’s Peter Hancock – have been very useful in keeping the campaign in the news and shoring up morale. Use it or lose it is no longer a maxim that applies to the Coachmakers’ Arms, the winner of several CAMRA and PPPG awards. If we are to stand any chance of keeping it, we have to write letters, contact potential support groups and explore all options. The alternative is to give up – and Realis would love that! by Mervyn Edwards
Page 1 and 2: POTTERS BAR NEWSLETTER OF THE POTTE
Page 3 and 4: Potteries CAMRA Branch Pub Of The M
Page 5 and 6: Potteries CAMRA Branch Pub Of The M
Page 7: Brewery News FLASH of Flash Still p
Page 11 and 12: VIEW from the Bar Room Floor CAMRA
Page 13 and 14: POTTERS BAR! 101 in October 2001 aw
Page 15 and 16: Lorna Denny Raises her Glass to the
Page 17 and 18: A PUB WANDER AROUND A FINE CITY Fan
Page 19 and 20: 32 nd Stoke Beer Festival Glass Log
Page 21 and 22: Potteries Pubs of the Month March:
Page 23 and 24: 38 POTTERS BAR SPRING 2012

Potters Bar - CAMRA Potteries

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