Town council to explore future possibilities for derelict pub

WESTBURY Town Council is exploring possibilities to save The Lopes Arms, a historic building in the Market Place, by registering it as a building of community interest. 

Councillor Nick Pyne passed a motion at the recent meeting of the town council on Monday 13th May, for the council to consider setting up a task and finish group to examine future possibilities of The Lopes Arms. 

Although the town council has no powers to buy the building, they agreed to explore options to keep the building  for the community of Westbury instead of it being turned into housing. 

In support of cllr Pyne’s motion, cllr Gordon King suggested that the building be registered as a building of community interest, whilst the council look into whether they can have any influence on the future of the historic building. 

This would prevent the building from being sold for other purposes without it being offered to the town council first. 

During the meeting on Monday 13th May, cllr Pyne said, “The Lopes Arms has been in the market square for years, and it is currently falling down. Chances are, it will be turned into housing, then we will be holding meetings to deal with parking issues etc.

“It would be great to see it become a commercial hub for the town. I don’t know what we could do with it, the town council have no powers to buy it, but  if we could come up with some plan to save the building,  turn it in to a commercial venture, I think it’s worth looking at, worth giving it a try. 

“It is in a prime location and could be used for social things, business things, as a base, for events – I don’t know at this stage, but we can’t just let it be converted into housing without looking at other possibilities.”

Cllr Ian Cunningham  said, “It would be nice to stop it being converted to housing,  I struggle to think how we could, but happy to spend some time to see if we can come up with some cunning plan and encourage it to stay open for town use. It’s a nice building! Don’t want to set any hares running at the idea that we can do anything about it, but we are willing to try.” 

The town council then agreed to register it as a building of community interest.

Cllr Pyne added, “Whether this is the first and last thing we do, or it’s the start of a process in saving the building, I definitely think it’s worth us looking in to.”