Keighley pub named after cricketing legend Dickie Bird to become housing
The Dickie Bird on Thwaites Brow Road has seen usage plummet since Covid – its landlords told members of Bradford Council’s Planning Panel.
A KEIGHLEY pub can be converted into housing after its owners told a planning panel it was no longer viable and was “running on fumes.”
The Dickie Bird on Thwaites Brow Road has seen usage plummet since Covid – its landlords told members of Bradford Council’s Planning Panel.
Members voted to approve plans to close the pub and turn it into housing, with the chair pointing out it is not within the Council’s power to force someone to keep open a business that is losing them money.
Last year a planning application to convert the pub in the Long Lee area into a house was submitted to Bradford Council.
A linked application would see four houses built on the grounds behind the pub.
The plans had received a huge amount of objections from residents, who said it would lead to the loss of an important community facility.
Both applications went before Bradford Council’s Bradford Planning Panel on Wednesday, when members heard from both objectors and the applicants – landlords and owners Mr and Mrs Cooney.
Planning officers had recommended both applications be approved, despite 334 objections to the plans.
Wendy Harrison, speaking on behalf of the objectors, said: “The loss of a community asset has not been justified.
“It is far more than just a pub – it provides a place for people to meet and socialise.
“A loss of this space would lead to the loss of the social fabric of the village.
“It is the only pub in Long Lee that is in walking distance for residents.”
Councillor Caroline Firth (Lab, Keighley East) spoke on behalf of objectors, saying local community spaces should be protected. She said: “Pubs can play a vital role in community life, and the Dickie Bird is exactly that kind of place.
“For four generations the pub has played a part in village life. It could continue to be a thriving pub if given the chance.
She suggested the asking price for the pub, around £600,000, was higher than similar pubs in the area had been sold for.
Mr Cooney told the committee: “We’ve owned and operated the pub for 15 years. However, post Covid we’ve seen a sustained decline in trade.
“The business is no longer financially viable. We’re losing £2,750 a month. We’re in debt.”
He said their bank had advised them to sell the property to re-pay their debt.
He told the panel: “We’ve been advised the property won’t sell as a pub as a going concern. Any offer was for redevelopment after a sale was completed.”
He said there had been no genuine offers to buy the pub, adding: “No-one from the local community came to us to see how we can get through this. We just ended up getting deeper and deeper into debt.
“We hope the committee supports the application that will allow us to get out of financial difficulties.”
Explaining the pub’s decline, he said: “We’ve been at the pub since 2011, and up till Covid it was fantastic – one of the busiest pubs in Keighley.”
He told the committee that in 2022 the pub brought in £131,000. Last year the annual takings were down to just £69,000. Mr Cooney said: “We know how to run a pub, but there is no formula to make it busy – there just isn’t the support there. We haven’t intentionally run it down. We’ve put our life savings into this pub. If it was an aeroplane, it would be running on fumes.
“It is not being used – every week it’s not being used. It is such a waste, and it’s so sad because we’ve put everything into this.”
Chair of the committee Councillor Sinead Engel (Lab, Clayton and Fairweather Green) said: “I’ve got mixed feelings about this. It is no secret that pubs are closing on a daily basis, and it is a great shame when you lose a place that you’ve had as a local amenity for so long.
“But I don’t think as a Council we have the power to tell people they have to keep running a pub.”
Councillor Matt Edwards (Green, Tong) said: “The applicants have given a really compelling and credible explanation for the application, and we have to take that into account.”
Councillor Mohammed Amran (Lab, Heaton) said: “If this pub was owned by a big company, I’d understand refusing this, but when you have people who have put their life savings into this and not been able to make it work, it is difficult for us to refuse this.”
Members voted to approve the application to convert the pub into residential.
They then approved the linked plan to develop four houses at the rear of the pub were also approved.