EXCLUSIVE: West Kirby residents fight to keep "Ring O'Bells" name

Apr 9 2008 by Matt Hurst, Hoylake and West Kirby News

Fight to keep ‘RING o’Bells’

WEST Kirby residents will challenge a national restaurant chain proposing to turn the historic Ring O’Bells pub into a high class oyster eaterie.

Loch Fyne has 38 restaurants throughout the UK and has applied to Wirral Council’s planning department for permission to scratch the traditional pub signs and replace them with illuminated ones advertising their new venture.

Geraldine Wood has lived in the village all her life, and says she is “saddened” by the proposal.

The grandmother told the News: “They want to do away with the grand old name of Ring O’Bells, it’s been there since the 1700s, since the pub was built.

“I think it’s so important, it’s on so many picture postcards and it’s part of West Kirby, part of the whole village.

“I don’t even know if they’ve seen the signs, they’re black and white and they want to replace them with bright blue illuminated plastic with yellow on it.”

Loch Fyne filed the proposal on February 19 and says it will acknowledge the pub’s name in smaller letters on one side.

Geraldine said: “They’ve never asked anybody whether they want it changed, or written to the neighbours saying they’re thinking of changing it.

“I grew up around here and my ancestors go back a long way, this is why I feel I’ve got to make a stand about it.”

Jim Featherstone is a member of West Kirby’s conservation area committee, and lives just down the road from the famous pub.

He said: “It’s the link with the church, the Ring O’Bells.

“They had a reputation of going for a drink after bell ringing and that’s the link between the pub and the church - it’s at the heart of the conservation area.”

A spokesman for Loch Fyne restaurants said: “We have applied to call the new restaurant Loch Fyne Restaurant at the Ring O’ Bells – this sign would appear along the roadside length of the building.

“Each Loch Fyne Restaurant takes into account the style and individuality of the building and we are confident that the restaurant will retain the character that has made the Ring O’ Bells so popular with local people.”