Fresh doubt cast over future of historic footballing pub in Sheffield
Campaigners fighting to save The Plough, on Sandygate Road, in Crosspool, believed their long fight to prevent it being turned into a supermarket or converted into flats had been successful.
Although their bid to buy the building for the community ultimately fell short, they claim they were told by sellers Enterprise Inns, trading as Ei Group, that it was being sold to a buyer who was keen to reopen it as a pub.
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Hide AdHowever, they now understand Ei Group - which claimed the building was not sustainable as a pub - subsequently accepted a higher bid from an unknown buyer, whose intentions remain unclear.
The pub stands opposite the world’s oldest football ground, home to Hallam FC, and is reputedly where the laws of the modern game were drafted.
It has been closed since last year and was sold this summer after plans to convert the site into a Sainsbury's store were rejected by councillors in January.
The Plough Community Group, backed by a mystery business person, bid £435,000 for the building in an attempt to stop it falling into the hands of a developer and being turned into flats or a shop.
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Hide AdThe group's chairman understands the building was sold to a company called Spacepad UK, based in Ranmoor.
The firm's website lists a number of projects in Sheffield including a £5 million housing, retail and leisure development on West Street, and it also claims to design and build 'funky-cool bars'.
Ei Group refused to disclose the buyer, and The Star has not yet been able to confirm who now owns the building. When we contacted Spacepad UK this week, the company would not comment.
The Plough is listed by Sheffield Council as an asset of community value, meaning it cannot be converted to another use or demolished without planning permission.
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Hide AdPeter Duff, chairman of the community group set up to save The Plough, said that when he spoke to Spacepad UK some time ago he was told the company had yet to decide what its plans were for the building.
"We have always been open to working with anyone looking to reopen the pub but we have also been equally clear than anyone seeking to take the pub away from our community will encounter organised and sustained opposition," he said.