Closure date announced for town centre Wetherspoon pub
Plus: Leisure facilities for village to move forward
Good morning and welcome to your Thursday edition of Ashfield News. Today, a fraudulent builder who swindled victims in Ashfield is jailed, the future of sports and leisure for residents in a rural part of the district is confirmed and a Wetherspoon closure date is confirmed.
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Closure date for Wetherspoon pub announced
A closure date for a Wetherspoon pub in Ashfield has been confirmed, as new owners prepare to take it over.
The Regent, in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, was put up for sale by the pub giant along with a number of venues across the country, including Mansfield’s Widow Frost.
In an announcement to customers, it was confirmed the venue will close on June 23 and that the nearest Wetherspoon pub will be at the Picture House in Sutton.
A re-opening date for The Regent under new ownership has yet to be confirmed.
However, in a message to customers online, the new owners said: “We have recently began taking over The Regent from its current owners JD Wetherspoons, We are hoping to be open and running a smooth service from the beginning of July.
“We have got so much planned to improve and bring the venue to a more community standard, We will also be bringing new items to the menus along with a traditional Sunday roast dinner.
“We will be bringing in Sky Sports, TNT Sports for all your live sport fixtures on several screens located across the venue.
“We have plans to bring in live entertainment on the weekends too, from DJs to live artists and bands.
“We cannot wait to get stuck in and meet our fellow community members of Kirkby-In-Ashfield.”
Flats plan for town centre refused over ‘significant concerns’
Plans to turn a building next to a derelict pub into flats have been refused.
A proposal submitted to Ashfield District Council sought to change the use of the first floor of 29 Forest Street, Sutton-in-Ashfield, from a pet crematorium into five flats.
The site is above an Age UK charity store and next to the former Woolpack, which is boarded up.
Planners said it was not unusual for homes to be built above shops in the town.
However, they raised “significant concerns” over issues including a lack of parking and added that natural light to some of the homes would only be available through roof lights.
In their decision to refuse the plans, they stated: “The proposed development will have a detrimental impact on residential amenity.
“It will result in a scheme which relies on roof lights to provide natural light into habitable rooms, meaning that combined lounge/dining areas will have insufficient natural daylight and no outlook.
“The scheme also fails to provide adequately-sized rooms to meet standards.”
Boy arrested after knife brandished in street
Police have arrested a 14-year-old boy after reports a large knife was wielded in a Sutton street.
Police were called to reports of a disturbance in Outram Street at about 11am on June 7.
A suspect was identified through CCTV footage and a property in Sutton was then searched.
A machete was found in the property and a boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested.
He was charged with possessing a knife in a public place and using threatening/abusive/insulting words/behaviour to cause harassment/alarm/distress.
The boy was released on conditional bail ahead of an appearance at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 26 June.
Cowboy builder jailed over string of dodgy jobs
A fraudulent builder who constructed “one of the worst extensions ever seen” has been jailed.
Barrie Parkin overquoted his victims for work including extensions, conservatories and an orangery.
But the 73-year-old, of no fixed address, left many projects incomplete and to a poor standard.
Parkin was convicted of participating in a fraudulent business carried out by a sole trader following an investigation by Nottinghamshire County Council’s trading standards.
He was jailed for three years after appearing at Nottingham Crown Court.
The court was told that between March 2014 and February 2019, he carried out a number of projects after victims contacted him through trade websites.
No formal cancellation rights were detailed with victims and in a number of cases his prices were overinflated, the court was told.
Once he received most of the money quoted, he would often fail to turn up to complete work and some victims reported he became angry when he was challenged.
The court also heard Parkin would tell victims he would gain the necessary planning permission but this never materialised, leading to victims having works completed without planning approval.
In one case, a surveyor stated an extension built by Parkin was ‘one of the worst he had ever seen and should be condemned’.
In this case, the value of the works carried out was assessed to be around £5,000 despite the victims paying out £20,591.23.
Among the victims was Andrea Reeves, 57, and George Reeves, 68, of Sutton-in-Ashfield.
In a joint statement released by the county council, they said: “When we met Barrie Parkin in 2016, he presented himself as a successful builder and showed us photographs of work that he claimed was his, but this turned out to be a complete façade.
“We trusted Barrie Parkin and used all our savings to pay for him to build a new kitchen and bathroom extension, but the work was so poor we were told by experts that it needed to be demolished and rebuilt.
“In the middle of this ordeal George was diagnosed with cancer. We had been left with cramped, temporary bathroom and kitchen facilities, which made it extremely difficult to care for George and the worry about repairing our home added to the stress of his treatment.
“We had to wait until 2021 before we could afford to fix the damage Barrie Parkin caused. It has been horrendous living through this, and our lives have been on hold for the last eight years because of him. We don’t want anyone else to go through what we have. Now with this verdict we can finally start to live our lives again.”
Mark Walker, interim service director for place at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “In all of these cases, works were not carried out to a high standard or were left incomplete, leaving victims to foot the bill to put things right. If you or someone you know has found themselves in a similar situation, we would urge you to seek free advice and report it by contacting the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133.”
Future of leisure facilities in village decided
A new sports hall will be built in Selston after a plan to transform leisure and sports provision in the area was approved.
Ashfield District Council and Selston Parish Council are working with organisations including Selston High School to improve the village’s offering to residents.
As part of the plans approved on Monday, June 17, Selston Leisure Centre will partially reopen to the public and work on a new four court sports hall with studio space start next year.
It is part of a comprehensive programme to transform the school’s facilities and community leisure provision.
Council Leader Jason Zadrozny said: “This is a really exciting time. Sports and leisure provision is back in the Selston Parish.
“With the sports hall re-opening, a new 3G football pitch being built and the brand new sports hall – this is excellent news.
“Residents of Jacksdale, Selston, Underwood, Westwood, Jubilee, Bagthorpe and New Brinsley have been crying out for sports and health provision on their doorstep. It is right that people who live in Selston Parish get the same level of service as everyone else.”
David Martin, chairman of Selston Parish Council added: “Things are really moving forward in Selston Parish and today’s leisure transformation decision is brilliant for our parish.”
Post Office warns of temporary closure
A village post office will temporarily close this weekend while work takes place.
Huthwaite Post Office, Market Street, will close at 12noon on Saturday, June 22.
Bosses said the closure is to allow for essential maintenance work.
A spokesperson said: "We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause."