An appeal against a refusal of a call to convert an ‘unviable’ former Pembrokeshire village pub to a house has been lodged.

In a partly retrospective application refused by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority in July 2025, Ms G Key, through agent Evans Banks Planning Limited, sought permission for the conversion of the former Taberna Inn and associated flat, Herbrandston Village, Milford Haven, to one residential dwelling.

Work started in March 2021 but has not been finished.

A supporting statement through the agent said: “We understand that the property was purchased by the applicant in November 2020 and operated for four months as a public house on the ground floor.

“The property has therefore remained closed as a public house since that date and only used for residential purposes by the applicant. This current application therefore seeks to regularise the situation and enable the properly to be used as a single residential dwelling.”

It says the loss of the pub to the village will not be felt as strongly as elsewhere as Herbrandston has an alternative venue, Herbrandston Hub, which opened in February 2020, and acts a successful community venue and centre for the settlement’s sports teams.

It adds: “The Pandemic had and continues to have many impacts on people’s lives and also their livelihoods, no more so than in the leisure and hospitality industries. With socialising patterns having now changed, many village public houses have found it impossible to continue to operate at anywhere near a viable level.”

Local community council Hebrandston objected to the proposal on the grounds the village has already lost amenities in recent years, with the community hub only open part-time.

The application was refused on grounds including it would “result in the unacceptable loss of an existing community facility,” and “the applicant has failed to demonstrate the potential for continued use of the facility as unviable”.

Since that refusal an appeal has been lodged with Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) by the applicant.

The applicant, in appealing, says she bought the former pub in “a closed and near condemned condition” with it not cost-effective to keep running as a pub, adding it would not reopen as a pub under her ownership.

The appeal will be considered at a later date.

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