A Whittlesey pub will continue pouring pints after a planning application to turn it into houses was rejected. 

Former landlord Mr Bruce Roan submitted the plans to convert The Letter B on Church Street into three new homes after putting it on the market.

But he then sold it to new owners, who have renovated it and reopened it as the BBQ and Brews. 

Mr Roan doesn’t appear to have then withdraw his planning application, but nor did he, nor any representatives, attend Fenland District Council’s (FDC) meeting where its outcome was determined to try to argue its merits. 

As such, councillors quickly brought about a unanimous vote to reject the application and allow the pub to continue operating. 

Cllr Jan French (Conservatives, March South) said that she doesn’t believe there’s that there’s “many pubs left in Whittlesey” and that “we have to preserve what’s there”, while Cllr Gavin Booth (Liberal Democrats, Parson Drove & Wisbech St Mary) said that they’re closing across the country “at an alarming rate”. 

Cllr Ian Benney (Conservatives, Chatteris South) added that the fact that planning officers could, in theory, “take us all out and buy us all a drink” at the pub shows that it clearly remains a community asset that shouldn’t be lost. 

But even if the BBQ and Brews wasn’t an operational pub – and there was still a genuine desire to convert it into houses – the planning application wouldn’t necessarily have been approved. 

FDC officers said in a report on the plans that one of the three houses proposed at the site “fails to meet the requirements set out within the National Space Standards with regard to bedroom sizes, which is therefore likely to result in poor levels of residential amenity for future occupiers”. 

Under Mr Roan’s ownership, The Letter B was an award-winning pub that was known for its live music, quizzes and charity fundraising. 

It was named Peterborough and Cambridgeshire’s CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) pub of the year in 2012 and CAMRA cider pub of the year in 2015 and 2016. 

He put it on the market in 2020 before it was bought in 2021.

It now has a BBQ and a new dining room and continues to raise money for local charities.