The Hare & Hounds Inn is Old Town’s only public house and a long-established community facility. A planning application has now been submitted to change its use from a pub to a private house. If approved, this would permanently remove the village’s only pub and shared social space.

We are asking Calderdale Council to refuse this application. This is not a temporary closure or a minor change. Once a pub is converted to residential use, it is effectively lost forever. Old Town would lose an important local amenity that cannot realistically be replaced.

The Hare & Hounds has historically played a vital role in village life. It has provided an informal, walkable place where people can meet without booking, membership, or invitation. It has supported everyday social connection, reduced isolation, and helped sustain the character and cohesion of the village. No other facility in Old Town offers the same open, accessible role.

At the point of sale, the Hare & Hounds was sold and priced as a pub. No planning permission existed for residential use, and there was no consultation with the community about the possibility of permanent loss. The proposal to convert it into a private home came after purchase, leaving residents facing the loss of a shared asset without having been asked what they wanted for the future of their village.

Local and national planning policy recognises public houses as community facilities and seeks to guard against their unnecessary loss, particularly where a settlement has only one pub. Old Town meets that definition. Allowing this change of use would undermine those protections and remove an important piece of local social infrastructure. Change of use would directly contravene the Council policy HW4 - Safeguarding community facilities and services.

There are viable alternatives to permanent loss. Options including community-led ownership should be properly explored before any irreversible decision is made. Once the building becomes a private dwelling, those options disappear entirely.

The planning consultation is open now, and objections must be submittedby 3rd February.

PLEASE comment on the councils planning portal before it's too late!

Individual objections matter and are formally recorded as part of the decision-making process.

After signing, please check your email and confirm your signature so it counts.

This petition calls on Calderdale Council to recognise the importance of the Hare & Hounds Inn, to apply planning policy fully and transparently, and to refuse any change of use that would result in the permanent loss of Old Town’s only pub.

The Hare & Hounds is not expendable. It is a community asset.

Please sign this petition and submit an objection before the consultation deadline to help protect Old Town’s only pub for current and future generations.

Please note :- Donations made through Change.org support the platform and do not go to WACA.