It used to be one of the highlights of Christmas and New Year for me.
A few minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve, we would all gather in the middle of Hele Village to welcome in the New Year.
Traffic was brought to a halt in Hele Road as we all held hands to form a circle and the community came together to sing For Auld Lang Syne.
It was a tradition going back way before my time. There were three ‘pubs’ in the village back then: the Hele Conservative Club, the RAOB ‘Buff’ Club, and the Royal Standard.
Locals, especially on New Year’s Eve, hopped from one to the other. They were what brought the village and villagers together.
Yep, Hele and its council estate were tough places to be brought up and grow up, but they didn’t deserve their reputation. The same for the Standard. It was just that people living in Hele believed in looking after their own. New Year’s Eve was proof of that. It was when Hele’s community spirit and heartbeat were at their best. Reputation or no reputation.
And what of now? Only the ‘Con’ Club remains, and good luck to it. The Standard and Buff Club are long gone after conversion into homes, and, as far as I know, there is no For Auld Lang Syne, or at least not like it used to be.
That’s what happens when you start closing pubs. Communities, and I am in no way criticising the current residents, lose their centrepiece. Their heart.
Shiphay—some would call that a ‘village’ in itself—is now faced with a threat to its community spirit. The Devon Dumpling pub, sitting at the heart of Shiphay for between the last 70 and 80 years, is facing the threat of closure.
A licencing wrangle with the authorities is being brought to a head with its landlords summoned to a special meeting in a few weeks’ where its licence will be reviewed and ultimately could be taken away.
Torbay Council says: “After careful consideration, Torbay Council Licensing Authority has decided to request a review of the licence for the Devon Dumpling pub. The grounds for this request are ‘The Prevention of Crime and Disorder and the Prevention of Public Nuisance’.
“The licence review follows multiple unsuccessful attempts, carried out over the last nine months, to resolve a number of issues identified at the premises in negotiation with the licence holder(s).”
That may sound as if the Dumpling has been a hotbed for crime, drug dealing, and all kinds of nasty goings-on in the past couple of years. That is not the case. This appears to be about noise complaints from a handful of neighbours, a smoking ‘cage,’ an outside bar, and live music.
The Dumpling’s first brush with the licensing authority goes back a couple of years when there were a few complaints about noise. It led to several conditions being attached to the pub licence.
Licensing officials were back at the pub in March last year to discuss three noise complaints when they noticed a couple of causes for concern…
Other visits followed, as well as a long email trail between the council and joint licence holders Raymond Lyon and his son Matt.
At the heart of the latest issues are an outside bar first erected in the back garden so Dumpling customers could watch European football on the TV that sat outside the pub’s licensed area and a smoking area called the ‘cage’.
Pub bosses were told the new bar would have to be included in the licensed area and customers would have to be seated, and the ‘cage’ did not comply with smoke-free regulations—despite being designated a smoking area in the licence review two years ago. The only way to make it compliant was to take its roof off and open it up, they were told.
The pub couldn’t win in some respects—when smokers were directed to the front of the pub because they couldn’t use the cage, there followed more complaints from different neighbours.
The Dumpling licence holders have been told in no uncertain terms during some correspondence: “Over the past month or so there has been a significant increase in noise-related nuisance at the Devon Dumpling. Complainants have come forward to express their concern over the situation and have provided evidence to support their allegations.”
And: “…the only reasonable next step should these issues continue is to review the licence. We are very happy to work with you to ensure that this does not become the case, but there must be a significant improvement from the current situation to satisfy that outcome. I must remind you that it is an offence under Section 136 of the Licensing Act to carry on or attempt to carry on a licensable activity not in accordance with an authorisation, ie, your premises licence. A person found guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to an unlimited fine, or to both.”
It may be fair to say that the landlords themselves may have helped ease the problems if they had been quicker with some responses. But they have had to try and run a pub with their hands tied behind their back with conditions from the previous licence review.
And, just perhaps, licensing officials were a tad over the top with some of their investigations into the noise complaints. I could not help but notice correspondence that revealed one operation carried out ‘out of hours visits’ to premises where the council had identified concerns and which coincided with a police operation involving licensed premises. A visit to the Devon Dumpling was carried out on Friday, November 29, last year.
Reports say: “On approaching the premises, we could see a female singer positioned immediately inside a window. The singer then started singing “Happy Birthday,” with some of the customers joining in. This was clearly audible outside the front of the premises and distinguishable above other noise in the area. My colleague and I then crossed the road and stood next to the boundary of a residential premises to assess the volume of noise from the Devon Dumpling at that location. The singer started singing a Christmas song, which was again clearly audible and distinguishable above other noise at our location.”
Was there any need for such clandestine operations?
Darren Cowell is a Shiphay resident, ward councillor, and local regular of the Dumpling. He says: “This goes back a couple of years when the first licensing review was undertaken and one or two neighbours were making representations about noise. At first, conditions put on the licence seemed to have worked, and there were no problems. Then a couple of the neighbours kicked up recently.
Above: Darren Cowell. Image: Torbay Council
“The smoking area (the cage) has not been compliant with regulations for smoking areas, but two years ago the licensing committee designated it as a smoking area.
“That is being reviewed, and they have taken steps to make it compliant by removing part of the roof.
“I think staff work hard to make sure that people leave quietly. It is not always that easy. If people are waiting for taxis, for instance, there is some background noise.
“When I have left the pub at 9 to 9.30pm on a Saturday night with live music, pretty much by the time you are out the front door, you can’t hear anything coming from the pub.
“It is difficult to run a pub at the best of times and without having your hands tied behind your back.”
Almost 5,000 people have now signed a Save the Dumpling online petition.
Darren says: “That is a massive number of people.” He claims: “The most vociferous resident only recently moved into the area before Covid in 2019. It is like somebody moving into a village with a church who doesn’t want to hear the church bells. I know several council officers who have been in the pub. It is not exactly a den of iniquity.”
Josh Ballard, Dumpling manager who started the petition, says on social media: “Unfortunately, The Devon Dumpling now faces the threat of reduced opening hours, added restrictions, and even closure. If we don’t act now, we risk losing not just a cherished establishment but a piece of our community’s history. The Devon Dumpling has been a gathering spot for all, whether for celebrating milestones, supporting local events, or simply sharing a quiet pint/dinner after a long day.”
He told me: “We had a couple of meetings with the council. We had to change the smoking area from the back to the front, but that has created a problem with neighbours at the front.
“The ‘cage’ was the smoking area for 20-plus years. When it was first reviewed, they said it was okay. Now they are saying it does not meet the requirements. We have taken the roof off, although we were worried about the noise complaints.”
The landlords are due to go before the licensing committee on February 6.
Josh says the petition support has been overwhelming. “The Devon Dumpling has been here for 50-plus years, and we are at the heart of the community.”
He said any further conditions placed on the pub by the licensing committee may be a deciding factor in its future.
Josh says: “From the last review we had, we had so many conditions that were unrealistic. We have live music at least twice a month. If live music was to be reduced, it is about being able to survive without that income and keeping a profitable business.”
Supporters have been quick to make their feelings known. Robert Savage said: “This place is worth keeping. It’s been there a lot longer than the people who are complaining have lived near it. They knew it was a put when they bought their property. So why complain now that they have moved in?”
Charmaine Foreman said: “The Devon Dumpling public house has been an integral part of the Torquay community for as long as I can remember—and I’m in my 60s. My father fondly referred to it as his “office,” where he made countless friends. This establishment is steeped in history, character, and charm, serving as a vital social hub for people of all ages. It deserves our respect and should continue to thrive as the vibrant centre of activity it has been for the past 80 years.”
Darren Cowell says: “I am just hoping that common sense prevails with the licensing committee and a solution can be found where everybody—the committee, landlords, and neighbours—are working together.”
The petition short link is Change.org/SaveDevonDumpling
As another local put it: “Wonderful places like this are dying out, and it’s not good. It feels like no one wants to keep a little bit of beautiful history anymore. It’s heart breaking.
Just like New Year’s Eve, Hele Village and the Standard.