THE owners of a historic Musselburgh pub have been given the go-ahead to transform its car park into an outdoor dining area and carry out alterations to enable it to “move with the times”.

A dozen councillors went against the recommendation of planners, which was to refuse the application for The Ship Inn at North High Street because it was taking away parking. Only four opted to support the advice of the officials at meeting of East Lothian Council’s planning committee.

Bob Tait, speaking for owners Caledonian Heritable, said: “This is an historic pub and what we are trying to do is improve the premises. Times have moved on for drinking since I was a teenager. Pubs are not just places for drinkers, you also need to cater for families and provide reasonable food.

“The no-smoking laws, strict driving legislation and introducing sport for television at home has had a massive impact on the viability of this traditional pub. It is now threatened and we have to move with the times to cater for the wider community.

“While we don’t want to remove the historic element and camaraderie that goes with the traditional pub, what we are trying to do here is spend some money and get the pub done up. The owners of the premises have the Archerfield development, own The Dome in George Street and also Ryan’s. They have just taken over the Foresters bar in Portobello.

“I would like to think if we get the go-ahead, the same enthusiasm would go into these premises.”

Planners argued that the pub’s existing seven car parking spaces would be taken away and two were proposed to be provided, resulting in an overall shortfall of between 18 to 24 parking spaces to serve the premises, according to parking standards.

East Lothian Courier:

Councillor John McNeil, Musselburgh West, who called in the plan to be debated by the committee, said there was public parking near the pub, including the harbour area, which could take 250 cars.

He added that a precedent had already been set when permission was granted for Wetherspoon’s, which didn’t have parking.

Councillor John Williamson, Musselburgh West, said: “I think the proposals would be an improvement because the function suite at the moment is pretty dull and dismal with the small windows. Making openings on to the rear and North High Street side are going to improve the look of the place. There has never been enough parking spaces attached to the premises and never will be. What is proposed is going to be good for the business and town.”

Councillor Tim Day added: “I am sympathetic to the arguments led by the applicant in terms of the changing nature of public houses. I think businesses need to evolve and this is a good example of that.”

Councillor Donald Grant reluctantly opposed the plan, saying Market Street was a congested area and the new facility would lead to increased parking.

He said: “It may well be that people will park in other areas of Musselburgh such as Fisherrow, but we don’t know that. I think there is a risk that we underestimate the parking problems.”

Committee chairman Councillor Norman Hampshire said: “ If we come down hard on the policy, then this application should be refused. My concern about this application is this is a public house on the edge of the town centre and there are a large number of public houses that have gone. We are trying to attract tourists to East Lothian and Musselburgh, and we want to have quality facilities to visit.

“When they built these pubs, there weren’t the cars that we have nowadays, so there is not the land available around them to create car parks that meet our policy. If we want to protect these public houses so they have got a future, where we have off-street parking in significant quality and we have that on this side of Musselburgh, then I think the policy should be relaxed in this sort of case.”

The outdoor dining area was approved.