'Such a shame': Demolition begins at more than 100-year-old village pub near Northampton

A longstanding and well-known village pub near Northampton has this week been part-demolished to make way for new housing.

The demolition team has smashed down part of The Bull in Harpole in the first phase of a new development to build three new homes on the site.

Two four-bed detached homes will be built on the site car park while the pub itself will be converted into a five-bed home.

The more than 100-year-old pub closed during the first Covid lockdown last year and never reopened.

Planning papers submitted in the summer said: "Overall, it is argued that the pub has been essentially running at a loss for a number of years and that this situation is not going to improve enough to warrant the significant investment needed to allow it to be reopened."

Harpole Parish Council did object to the plans, claiming that the pub was a 'valuable community asset'.

The objection letter read: "The parish council still objects to the significant loss of a valuable community asset which has been justified by the developer using a flawed viability report and a half-hearted marketing effort where offers were turned down with no attempt at negotiation.

"The viability report claims that the attractive, vibrant expanded village with a total population of approximately 1,600 is insufficient to support three pubs, but fails to take account of over 3,000 houses planned within the parish, with relatively few community facilities."

One Harpole resident said it was 'such a shame' to see the pub demolished.

The 3,000 homes Western Gate development will be built in a field between Duston and Harpole, just off Sandy Lane.

The Bovis Homes and Linden Homes development was approved by Northampton Borough Council back in October 2019.

For more information, click here.