Hampshire pub to be run by museum after alcohol licence was approved

The Gilbert White House has been granted a premises licence by East Hampshire District Council for the ground floor of the former Queen’s Hotel in Selborne Road, Selborne.

The high street pub, located on the corner with Huckers Lane, has been closed since 2016 and currently lies derelict, boarded up and fenced off.

But now the Gilbert White museum, in an effort to diversify its sources of income, will operate The Jubilee Taproom between the hours of 12pm and 11pm.

Plans to convert the building into aparthotel suites, a field studies centre and a taproom were refused by the South Downs National Park Authority's planning committee in September last year.

Derek Warwick Developments, the owners, have appealed to the planning inspectorate with a decision expected by the end of the year.

Speaking to the district council’s licensing sub-committee, Gilbert White house trustee Paul Cluett said: ‘The charity must be financially stable and hence its need to diversify and grow.

‘In November 2019 it opened a nano-brewery in the original Gilbert White Brewhouse, it is only one of two museums in the country that has its own brewery.

‘It’s not been an easy time for pubs and tap rooms as I'm sure the committee recognises - no one goes into this lightly.

SEE ALSO: Waterlooville pub The Centurion to undergo major £382,000 refurbishment

‘Many are closing down due to the increased costs and are unable to sustain a living for tenants or owners in fact 7,000 pubs have gone in the last ten years.

‘Unlike normal pubs or taprooms we have, courtesy of the owner, been granted a peppercorn rent on a 99-year lease for the whole of the ground floor.

‘Having an ownership of beer supply on our doorstep we are certainly reducing delivery miles - it will be masses of yards to deliver beer to the taproom.

‘This will be a benefit to Selborne, its residents and visitors. It removes the sad sight of a derelict pub and it helps the museum to diversify and survive while providing job opportunities in this rural area.’