Local News Tuesday 23rd August

Tuesday, 23 August 2022 06:00

Rising energy prices and the cost of living are taking their toll on pubs in the Southwest. A pub in Chard that has been vacant for more than a decade is likely to remain unoccupied for longer. A Chard man has been banned from driving for a year after failing a drugs test while in charge of a motor vehicle. Items of equestrian equipment have been stolen from a stable block at Kingsbury Episcope near Langport...and more.

Rising energy prices and the cost of living are taking their toll on pubs in the Southwest. The British Institute of Innkeepers says 400 pubs in the region closed in the last twelve months. They claim only 37 percent of hospitality businesses are currently making a profit. The government says to help the sector, the support it gives to businesses that use a lot of energy has been doubled, and employer national insurance contributions have been cut.

A pub in Chard that has been vacant for more than a decade is likely to remain unoccupied for longer. The Furnham Inn, on Furnham Road, closed in 2013 with no interest shown in buying the building to run as a pub. The owners of the Grade-2 listed property had applied to change its use to residential, but planners at South Somerset District Council turned down the application saying it failed to meet the legal requirements for converting listed buildings.

A Chard man has been banned from driving for a year after failing a drug test while in charge of a motor vehicle. Vincent Collision was caught driving in Crowshute Link in Chard in February when the proportion of cannabis in his blood exceeded the specified limit. Collision of Combe Street in Chard pleaded guilty to the offence and was also fined £450 with costs when he appeared in court in Yeovil.

Items of equestrian equipment have been stolen from a stable block at Kingsbury Episcope near Langport. Police say thieves broke into the site in the early hours of last Saturday. Two show saddles, four dressage saddles, three show jumping saddles and 15 bridles were taken. Officers from the South Somerset Neighbourhood Policing team are investigating.

A Chard man is planning to mark his 92nd birthday by flying 100 meters in the air on a zip wire for charity. Don Raddon will be raising money for the Filo Project which supports people with dementia when he makes the attempt at the Eden Project at the end of August.

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