SAVE THE RAILWAY HOTEL






			WHITCHURCH HAMPSHIRE

	Home \| How to Help \| News \| Links \| Contact Us




						In 2010 Whitchurch Pub Race visited the Railway 30 Teams in Fancy Dress visited the community pub they flattened for the clampers! What will happen in 2011? How many more pubs will have been lost to this small Hampshire town CAMRA ran a bar with support from Andwell's Brewery to show the disgust at losing a true community pub! For a Report see: WHITCHURCH TOWN WEBSITE The RAILWAY HOTEL - RIP March 2010 A fine pub so needlessly destroyed Above: Local residents meet to protest at a pub demolished. (Photo Andrew RH) There was local dismay that the Railway Hotel in Whitchurch, Hampshire was suddenly closed shuttered up, and demolished - leaving the area without a local pub. This is being made possible by a system that allows a demolition even though no planning permission for any Change of Use has been granted. Just hours before the bulldozers started their destructive work the bar was still set, with hard fought over trophies still on display, flowers still in vases, and even beer mats still on the tables. New owners Lochailort Investments who had taken the pub from Punch Taverns have no local commitment. Who cares? Not them, not Punch Taverns, not the local Council. It is now likely to become a car park, attracting more traffic and congestion to the area, before the developers decide it is time to build flats or similar accommodation. Once they have teh money to build the housing where will the cars go? It will just fill the area with more traffic. Clamping more important than a pub for local people, Once a Whitbread pub, then under Wiltshire Brewery, the Railway regrettably ended up in the hands of a major Pub Company - Punch Taverns and its fate was sealed! Over recent years the lack of investment from Punch resulted in the pub becoming run down, while the succession of hard-working tenants who tried their best to make a living from it, were hampered by the restrictive practices of the PubCo. Any licensee who shows growth is penalised by increased rents and higher charges. How ironic that the bulldozers went in on the day the Government's Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee issued its report demanding major reform to the way Pub Companies operate, and threatened statutory intervention. At the same it urged the OFT to look more carefully at the issues raised in CAMRA's "super-complaint" submission. But for the Railway and Whitchurch, it is too late. RIP For lively local Discussion on the site see WHITCHURCH FORUMS John B










	CAMRA is an independent voluntary consumer organisation which campaigns for real ale, real pubs and consumer rights. It is non-profit making and open to all. Membership is by subscription. Click Logo for Details


	CAMRA has a local group that supports pubs, selects Good Beer Guide entries, visits breweries, organises beer festivals, campaigns on behalf of the pub user and runs lots of social activities. Click Logo for Details