Listed ‘community asset’ pub could become Co-op store

A LISTED pub which dates back to the early 19th century could be turned into a shop after being vacant for five years.

The Co-operative Group wants to make internal and outside alterations at the Crown Hotel in High Street in Boston Spa, Leeds, which closed due to changes in the traditional pub trade such as the smoking ban, according to planning documents.

This follows a previous application and an appeal from 2014 by Tesco to develop the Grade IIlisted site before plans were withdrawn.

In September 2015, the pub was listed as an Asset of Community Value, designating it as property which is of importance to the area and which is subject to additional protection from development under the Localism Act 2011.

But planning notes submitted with the application, drafted by the Co-op’s agent Edgeplan Limited, read: “The building has, however, not been used as a public house for five years and despite the owners’ thorough review of the building’s future following the withdrawal of Tesco’s offer to lease it, there is no prospect of it reopening in this form.”

It was formerly run by Enterprise Inns, but the documents read that “structural changes in the licensed trade” such as the smoking ban and people drinking at home made it unviable.

City planners are due to make a decision about whether to grant permission by September 18.