Village pub given community asset status

The Nags Head at Wootton is now an asset of community value

A village pub, which has been taken over by new owners, has been made an asset of community value.

The Nags Head in Wootton, North Lincolnshire, has been given the status to protect its future and means the community will be given a legal right to bid for it, if the venue goes up for sale.

Wootton Parish Council applied for the status after it closed during a search for new management last year.

The pub is part of the Punch chain, which owns more than 1,200 venues.

Cllr Graham Horton, the parish council chair, said they applied for the protected status when they were "unsure" what was going to happen with it last year.

He said: "The only assets we’ve got in the village really are the school and the pub.

"It was decided if it was put in as an asset, we would have at least as a community, some say."

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, new tenants for the pub have now been found and, after undergoing external works and painting, the venue is thriving.

A council document, confirming the special status of the pub, states the parish council demonstrated “the pub’s positive impact on community wellbeing in terms of past and current functions”.

It also highlighted the potential for alternative use in future such as a meeting place for local groups, or possible host for Post Office or banking facilities.

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