A Corsham pub landlady says the decision to reject an appeal to keep her smoking shelter will hurt her business.

Landlady of the Hare & Hounds, Beth Crib lost an appeal to challenge a refusal of a retrospective application for her smoking shelter, bin store and log store and believes this will result in a loss of business for the pub going into the winter months.

The planning inspectorate said the main reasons to uphold the removal order were due to the effect the timber framed shelter and stores had on the grade two listed building.

In their assessment, the inspector wrote: “It is harmful to the historic character and appearance of the listed building and to its setting.”

Contending the decision, Miss Crib said: “We have to keep relevant with other pubs that are not grade two listed because trends and needs of customers move forward.

“It was why we were very careful about the materials used to make the shelter matching the shelter on our next-door neighbours The Two Pigs.

“The Two Pigs Which used to reside next to us in the same conservation area has the same corrugated plastic roof on a shelter just as ours has, much larger than ours, yet theirs is still standing?

“We are happy to change the roof to whatever would suit them in order to make the shelter fitting with the building, but no one will talk to us.

“I just wish that Wiltshire Council were more willing to help local businesses through this tough time when so many pubs are currently struggling and closing down.”

Miss Crib says the outcome will lead to a loss of trade for the Hare & Hounds heading into the winter months.

Without the outside shelter and with the limited table space inside the pub to comply with coronavirus rules, outside space is ‘sacred’, Miss Crib said.

“This will in turn make the outside area unattractive and with no shelter to smokers,” she added.

“Without a warm, sheltered area outside it means we will be losing regular custom.

“We have to keep relevant with other pubs that are not grade two listed because trends and needs of customers move forward.

“We will come up with something to ensure that our smokers and those that find sitting inside a building a step too far at this point have somewhere warm and sheltered to sit, while in the meantime applying for further planning.”

Miss Crib said that the option is open to fight the decision in the High Courts, but that could be costly at around £20,000 and she is unsure if this would reverse the decision.

Cllr Toby Sturgis, cabinet member for planning, said: “The Hare and Hounds is a 17th century listed building, and as such an independent planning inspector has ruled the structures are unacceptable and must be removed.

“The inspector found that the smoking shelter ‘is harmful to the historic character and appearance of the listed building and to its setting’, and the bin shelter works ‘adversely affect the character and appearance of the host building and its setting’.”