Saltaire pub converted from shop earns CAMRA accolade (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Saltaire pub converted from shop earns CAMRA accolade

12:58pm Monday 22nd March 2010 in

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A landlord who spent more than a year trying to turn a pet shop into a real ale pub has had his persistence rewarded with a major award.

Marcus Lund was today toasting the success of Fanny’s Ale and Cider House, in Saltaire Road, Saltaire, after it was named Bradford Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) pub of the year.

Mr Lund, 45, said he was “absolutely delighted” to have been voted the best pub in the Bradford district for the first time.

He said: “We have won several CAMRA Pub of the Season Awards but this is the first time we have won Pub of the Year and it is great. I’ve been here 13 years and this shows that all the hard work has paid off.”

Mr Lund, of Saltaire, bought the pub in the mid-1990s when it was a pet shop.

Initially, he had plans to transform it into a fish and chip shop called Fanny Haddocks – which is how it came to be called Fanny’s Ale and Cider House.

But getting to the stage where he could open as a pub was not easy.

Twice, Bradford Council planners turned down permission for a change of use from a pet shop to a pub and it took four attempts to persuade magistrates, then responsible for licensing, to allow him to sell alcohol.

CAMRA members voted Fanny’s Pub of the Year ahead of The Junction in Baildon. The Fighting Cock, in Preston Street, Listerhills, Bradford, won the Spring Pub of the Season.

The winners were decided at the Bradford Beer Festival in Victoria Hall, Saltaire, and will be presented with a plaque on Wednesday, May 26.

Bradford CAMRA chairman Bill Arnold said: “This is a great achievement for both pubs.”