The Red Lion, Pembridge has new plans for its outdoor drinking area

A Herefordshire village pub is seeking permission for a vending machine selling local produce from its roadside drinking area.

The Red Lion Inn, Pembridge, on the main A44 Leominster-Kington road, has already installed the machine within a timber cabin that has an overhanging roof.

It dispenses eggs and milk via cashless payment from Parkgate Farm near Lyonshall, as well as cherries and strawberries from the nearby Moorcourt Farm when in season.

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In order to address issues raised by the county conservation officer, the pub proposes painting the cabin “a darker, more recessive” colour, and roofing the cabin with matt dark grey corrugated tin.

Owner Cliff Pontifex-Price’s application also seeks approval for landscaping works to the outdoor seating area, whose sloping tarmacked surface “is in poor condition”.

This would be replaced with paving slabs behind a new low roadside retaining wall.

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Pre-application advice from Herefordshire Council indicated the impact of the proposal on the village conservation area “would be the main matter to consider”, his application says.

Unlike several of its neighbours, the pub itself is not listed.

Comments on the planning application, numbered 233162, can be made until  November 30.