Owners of a closed pub in a Herefordshire village are making a renewed bid for permission to turn it into a home.

The Lamb Inn in Stoke Prior near Leominster closed in 2017.

It is currently advertised on AirBnB as a short-let holiday property for up to 12 guests, while being marketed for this use by commercial property agency Christie & Co, priced at £630,000.

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The new planning application (number 241366) by Mr and Mrs T Windmill says the couple, who live at the premises, “did not realise planning permission would be required for the use of the pub for holiday accommodation”, but had been asked by Herefordshire Council to apply for this.

The Lamb Inn when still a working pub in 2009The Lamb Inn when still a working pub in 2009 (Image: Google Street View)

Following “lengthy discussions with officers”, the application now seeks permission for the pub to become a single five-bedroom house, and for retrospective permission for an external staircase up to a new balustraded roof terrace accessible from the first floor.

The couple say they had previously tried to sell the pub as a going concern, but in six years only one offer had been put forward, by the local parish council, which they found “not acceptable”.

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This showed that the pub “is no longer required, viable or fit for purpose, and therefore its change of use to a single dwelling house is appropriate”, according to their application.

The new application makes no mention of a previous bid made by the Windmills in 2017 for permission to convert the pub into a home.

The couple then unsuccessfully appealed against the council’s refusal of their plan, which was on the grounds of “insufficient evidence that the community facility is not a viable business and could not continue to meet community needs”.

The appeal was refused by a government-appointed inspector.