King’s Head Set To Open As Application Approved

A Duffield pub will be reopened next month after gaining council approval – and a homegrown landlord will take the helm.

The King’s Head in Town Street has been closed since February last year after the previous owner was stripped of the license due to a raft of noise complaints from residents, says the council.

This had been caused by late night loud music as well as departing customers and had led to the owners being served with a noise abatement order and the eventual termination of their license by the council.

However, under the new leadership of Ryan North, who was raised in the village and still lives there, the pub would be reshaped as a gastro pub with adjoining restaurant and selling real and craft ales.

It is set to open in early August, with a date yet to be decided, after being granted approval by Amber Valley Borough Council’s licensing panel.

Mr North has held his pub license since 2007 and has been the licensee at the White Hart, also in Duffield, for the past 18 months.

He said: “There were objections to the application, and part of that is because I didn’t go round and see residents and neighbours to talk through the plans and reassure them.

“I have received well-wishes about this plan and I do believe the premises used to have a lot of concerns.

“But I plan to do something different with the site, selling craft ale and real ales, with a bar and a restaurant, instead of as a venue for 18th and 21st birthday celebrations.

“Most of the neighbours I spoke to were reassured after I updated them on this and made it clear and as a result have not felt a need to attend this meeting today.

“I am from the village and live in the village and am raising my son here, and don’t want to upset it.”

Ahead of the hearing, around 20 letters of objection were submitted to the council, largely fearing that the problems faced with the previous tenant – including violence and public urination – would return if the pub was reopened.

Music, which would be limited to background usage, would be cut off at 11pm each night – continuing past this time would require a separate license and it is this which helped allay the fears of residents. Alcohol would be sold at the premises until at least 1am every day of the week, later than the two neighbouring pubs the White Hart and Patternmakers Arms. Doors at the premises would be fitted with self-closing devices and added “acoustic insulation” to limit the amount of noise leaking from the site.

Natalie Osei, the solicitor for the borough council, announced the council’s decision to approve the application, but with several conditions.

These are that no alcohol can be taken outside except in the beer garden, and no alcohol can be drunk outside after 11pm; there should be no loitering outside the premises, which must be monitored by a designated staff member; and there must be signs displayed around the pub stating that customers must leave the site quietly and in an orderly manner at closing time.

Picture: The King’s Head pub in Duffield – Photo from Google Maps

By Eddie Bisknell – Local Democracy Reporter