Black Horse at Castle Rising given renewed licence

The Black Horse Inn, at Castle Rising. Picture: Chris Bishop (Image: Archant)

EI Group was today given a renewed premises license for the Black Horse, at Castle Rising.

It allows the pub to serve alcohol until 12-midnight, despite objections from neighbours.

The Black Horse has been closed since July, when its previous tenants ceased trading.

Today EI Group's solicitor Richard Taylor told West Norfolk council's licensing committee the company was seeking to restore the license which was previously in force.

The Black Horse Inn, at Castle Rising. Picture: Chris Bishop (Image: Archant)

'It's basically giving Castle Rising its pub back,' he added. 'The EI Group is the largest pub-owning company in the country, it owns about 4,500 pubs.'

Mr Taylor said the firm's vision for the Black Horse was 'a Sunday lunch pub'. He told councillors: 'It's a beautiful country pub that will make its money on food and have a reputation for quality. That's how we see the Black Horse moving forward.'

Mr Taylor said the pub's previous licence allowed it to serve alcohol to 12-midnight.

But villagers wrote letters of objecting, saying their feared disturbance if the pub was allowed to resume operating to the same hours.

Richard Waite, clerk to the trustees of nearby almshouses, spoke on their behalf at the meeting.

'My biggest concern is disturbance to the almshouses, the residents are elderly and vulnerable,' he said. 'My experience is I have been called out to late night disturbance, we all know that will happen.'

Mr Waite said he had been called out 'two or three times in the last few years'.

Councillors heard there were no objections to the license application from police and there was no history of problems at the pub.

Summing up Mr Taylor said the committee needed to decide the application on the basis of 'the real evidence cold, hard facts' rather than 'guesswork, supposition and concerns about what might happen'.

Councillors retired for an hour to consider the application before deciding to grant the licence to serve until midnight.

Returning to open session, chairman Chris Crofts said the concerns of residents related to a small number of low-level historic disturbances.

One condition of the licence will be that the pub has signs asking customers to leave the premises quietly. EI plans to refurbish the pub before it re-opens.