CAMPAIGN VICTORY: Fleur de Lys Pub at Pilley Protected after Anchor Inn at Eling Also Protected by Pope

Toby Perkins, Chesterfield Labour MP (left) and Labour 2015 Parliamentary Candidate for New Forest East Andrew Pope (right)

 

 

VICTORY! Andrew Pope Protects the Fleur de Lys Pub at Pilley - and Celebrates With Locals!

Our campaign with local residents to get the Fleur de Lys pub officially recognised as a community pub, at the heart of the area, has been successful. 

This means that the local community will have a right to bid to own and run the pub, if it is put up for sale. It also gives the pub protection in planning law. Andrew Pope said:

"We already knew that this pub has been a key part of the Pilley and Boldre community for many years, with customers coming from near and far."

"New Forest District Council has now officially recognised this, following the petition that we asked local people and people across Hampshire to sign."

Fellow campaigner Denise Wyatt said:

"This pub can now stay at the heart of the local community for many years to come, and we will be organising a celebration at the pub soon."

"We would like to thank everyone who supported our campaign, including pub campaigner Toby Perkins MP (pictured above) and most importantly all local residents in Pilley and Boldre. It is their pub, after all."

 

This Asset of Community Value ACV listing by the Council follows Andrew Pope's campaign to similarly protect the Anchor Inn at Eling, also listed as an ACV following a petition led by Pope as part of his campaign as Labour Candidate for the New Forest East Constituency at the 2015 General Election.

 

Looking back in 2025, Andrew, who resigned in disgust from the Labour Party shortly after completing his 2015 General Election Campaign in New Forest East and being re-elected to Southampton City Council (see elsewhere on this website), says:

"Standing as a Parliamentary Candidate is not all about the vote on Polling Day. There are people who think that, especially political careerists that infest the Westminster parties for their own benefit, and so-called journalists who are lazy and do not report community matters.

Being a credible candidate is about showing you care, and working with local residents on the issues that matter to them, and campaigning for them and their area. 

I protected two pubs that were under threat, as part of my 2015 Parliamentary campaign that began in 2013. 

And both pubs are still running, unlike many others that have closed. Some pubs cannot be saved. Others lack the community support to be saved.

I am proud of my hard work to lead these campaigns and proud of the members of the communities that I recruited to help me win these two successful campaigns."