What next for Derbyshire pub visited by Taylor Swift and Harry Styles?

Uncertainty surrounds the future of a pub once visited by megastars Taylor Swift and Harry Styles after plans to build a 72-bed hotel there were refused.

The pop icons visited the Rising Sun in Bamford for a slap-up meal in the run-up to Christmas 2012. However, plans were later lodged for the building to be razed to the ground to make way for a new hotel.

The future of the building was then thrown into doubt after the Peak District National Park planning committee refused the application due to fears that the hotel would be too large for its location last month.

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Now, speculation about whether developers will submit a fresh application to transform the site is mounting as it attracts vandalism and surrounding fencing becomes increasingly dilapidated.

An aerial view of the proposed hotel.An aerial view of the proposed hotel.
An aerial view of the proposed hotel.

The pop world went into overdrive when Swift, then at the peak of her Red-era fame, and Styles – at the summit of his One Direction acclaim – celebrated her birthday with his family in the pub. They had only started dating the previous month before meeting up with Styles’ sister Gemma and her boyfriend to sample the Yorkshire pudding and onion gravy starter, followed by roast turkey. They even chatted with locals about their trip to Windermere in the Lake District. However, it was a visit that was soon put firmly in the past by the pop icons after they split-up in the January of 2013.

The visit unfortunately also did little to change the pub’s fortunes and it shut its doors permanently in March 2017.

In July, plans were lodged for a “high quality” hotel which would create more than 50 jobs. The new venue would include a bar and a 150-cover restaurant.

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While authority officers had recommended the committee approve the plans, local residents had presented a petition to the meeting outlining their opposition.

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Ultimately, the committee resolved: “That the excessive scale, height and massing of the hotel building in this proposal for ‘major development’ would cause significant harm to the valued character of the national park landscape.

“Furthermore, the harm identified would not be outweighed by the public benefits arising from the proposal.”

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