When Patrick Commissioners met on Monday night, one topic dominated the proceedings - the future of the Waterfall Pub.

More than 30 residents attended the meeting to discuss the latest proposal by JIM Ltd to demolish the pub and build four terraced houses.

The application (20/00605/B) is the second proposal in recent years, with the previous one being rejected first by planners and then at an appeal.

In the application, JIM Ltd said that ’multiple attempts have been made over recent years to make the business work but have been unsuccessful’ and this has been at a ’considerable cost’ to the company.

Its application added that people ’are not going out as much now to eat and drink’ since the last recession and given the increase of awareness of the risk of drink driving.

However, residents of Glen Maye say there is a way forward for the building, which they note is the last community focal point in the village which has no shop or post office, leaving the chapel and community centre as the main social building at present.

One resident said that the Waterfall building is only dilapidated because it had been left closed and that it ’would be viable’ if a business was to open in the pub.

Others called it a community asset and noted that, as the government is pushing towards the outdoor tourist market while encouraging islanders to walk and cycle more, country pubs and tea rooms could play a big role in the local economy moving forward.

Ideas were discussed by the commissioners and residents, including applying for a preservation order and crowd funding the money to buy the pub, but commissioner Geoff Gelling suggested the local authority could seek to engage in a dialogue with the owners about the pub’s future and its role in the village.

Residents agreed and said that they would be writing not only to the planning committee, but also to their MHKs.

Falling inside Glenfaba and Peel constituency, residents are represented by Environment, Food and Agriculture Minister Geoffrey Boot and Policy and Reform Minister Ray Harmer who, as one resident noted, will both be ’wanting your vote in next year’s election’.