Pub receives further protection from redevelopment

Rich Newman says campaigners have been "very keen" to keep The Bell Inn open

A Gloucestershire pub is celebrating for the second time in a week after receiving further protection from redevelopment.

Plans to convert The Bell Inn, in Bath Road, Cheltenham, into flats and build a new house behind it were turned down by Cheltenham Borough Council last week.

Now, an application to register the building as an asset of community value has also been granted.

Rich Newman, who has been campaigning to save the pub, said: "All that's left now is for the community to purchase the pub and keep it running as it is."

The owner of the building wanted permission to go ahead with the works, which included a two-bedroom house with a garden, three one-bedroom flats and a studio flat, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.

The ground floor would have been kept as commercial space but a petition was organised in December to save the pub from redevelopment.

Chris Evans, landlord of The Bell Inn, said everyone involved in the campaign was extremely pleased with the two decisions.

"I think it virtually means it can't be turned into flats, certainly not for a long time, anyway," he said.

"And if the owner wants to sell it, then the community has the right to buy it."

A petition was set up to save The Bell Inn, pictured here during a visit from former Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk, from redevelopment

Mr Newman said he and everyone involved with the campaign were pleased the application had been approved.

He said he had been apprehensive ahead of the decision. "We're very, very keen to keep our pub open," he said.

"We're very happy to keep the bell ringing, and I think I can hear that bell ringing right now."

Listing the pub as an asset of community value protects it from inappropriate development and will give the community a chance to buy it.

Cheltenham Borough Council received a nomination to declare The Bell an asset of community value in January, and the council officer who granted the application was satisfied the Bell Inn furthered the local community's social wellbeing and social interests.