Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Council reject plans to turn Aberdeenshire village’s only pub into family home

The Learney Arms Hotel in Torphins
The Learney Arms Hotel in Torphins

The future of an Aberdeenshire village’s only pub remains in limbo after plans to convert it into a family home were rejected by the local authority.

The Learney Arms ceased trading in August and was bought by Aberdeen man Alex Shepherd – who applied to Aberdeenshire Council for a change of use of the B-listed building from a hotel, pub and restaurant.

Last night he said he was beginning discussions with his architect to look at how to “proceed” with the plans after council officials deemed the application contrary to business development policy and its local development plan.

Locals banded together to try to object to the plans, describing the Learney as the “heart of the community” and submitting more than 100 objections to the initial proposals.

Yesterday the Torphins Community Council reaffirmed its commitment to finding a solution that would bring the hotel back into use.

Chairman Will MacLean said the group was “pleased” at the council’s refusal, adding: “We desire and support a resolution that will continue licensed hotel premises in Torphins for all the reasons given in the community council objection.

“Given the current situation the issue may take time to resolve but we would support appropriate proposals.”

The Learney had been on the market for two-and-a-half years prior to the eventual sale.

However owner Mr Shepherd said: “My architect is dealing with it at the moment, we are just looking at that and deciding how we are going to proceed.

“We are obviously disappointed with the initial view. I am not totally surprised, but we’ll just decide what to do from here. It is early days.

“At the end of the day the hotel is closed down and the bar is closed down, what is happening with the planning doesn’t change that at all.

“I don’t think anybody wants to see a fantastic B-listed property like that being left, I don’t think that is in anybody’s interest at all. It is pretty well documented all over how the licence trade is suffering and has been for years.”

The council’s head of planning and building standards, Robert Gray, said: “Satisfactory evidence had not been provided showing that the hotel is no longer viable, and its loss both in terms of tourist accommodation and the amenity it offers to the local community would have a detrimental impact on the local economy and amenities of the town.”