Well-known pub to become offices

Work is under way to transform what was once one of Stafford's best-known pubs into business offices.

The Telegraph Inn, on Wolverhampton Road, called last orders for the final time in March after several decades as a popular town watering hole.

Staffordshire-based pub chain Punch Taverns sold the building as freehold in May after Stafford Borough Council formally approved plans to convert it into offices.

Midlands firm D5 Architects is now working to change the former pub's ground-floor into office space with an adjacent car park, but the exterior of the building and the first floor residential flat will remain unchanged.

The pub switched owners several times in recent years as owners struggled to make the site pay.

In 2007 a new landlord funded a £20,000 makeover for the building and trialled live performances and acoustic nights in a bid to revive its fortunes.

And last year the pub triggered county-wide interest after launching home-cooked meals for £1.50 in an effort to pull in recession-hit punters.

But in a letter to planning officers in support of the March application, Punch Taverns' estate development manager Robert Barnett said that the Telegraph Inn had become "a drain on finances and management time."

"Since 2003 beer volumes at the site have declined from 243 barrels to 96 barrels in 2008/09," he said.

"Competition within the area is very high with around 40 sites within a one-mile radius all fighting for similar trade.

"The sale for alternative use will disperse what beer volumes currently exist to other sites in the area and thereby give them a better chance of survival."

Mike Harker, of CAMRA Staffordshire, believes the Telegraph's demise is a sign of the times.

"Some excellent pubs are disappearing. The recession is partly to blame but it's not the only answer, the price of beer in supermarkets is another big factor," he said.

"The Telegraph was there for a hell of a long time but it was taken over a number of times in recent years and couldn't keep going."