Fresh plans for old pubnews
THE FORMER TOWN CENTRE VENUE COULD BE TURNED INTO FLATS UNDER NEW PLANS
NEW plans have been drawn up for a former town centre pub just months after plans to turn it into a restaurant were approved.
Billy’s, in New Street, Burton, has been closed for several years and it was revealed earlier this year that no pub operators had come forward to take it on.
However, following a marketing operation, offers came in from a housing developers and two for alternative commercial users.
In March plans submitted by M Bashir were approved by East Staffordshire Borough Council to turn it into a restaurant with a takeaway service and a smoking shelter.
However, a new applicant has since come forward with a new proposal.
R Unicorn Property Group Ltd has applied to the borough council to create a detached building to form two one-bedroom apartments and to convert the existing former pub into a two-bedroom apartment.
If the scheme is given the goahead, it would reduce parking at the rear of the site from 16 to eight.
A viability report compiled by Edward Jones Estate Agents has already detailed the pub’s low income and high running costs, which the report said made it not viable to remain as a pub.
It said: “The report reflects on the current national trends whereby there has been a steady closure of local pubs nationally mainly due to the non-viability of the use and changing drinking habits of the public. The general public are more likely to drink at home but go out to eat to town centre restaurants or much larger public houses.
“The pub businesses that appear to be successful and viable are the larger public houses with large professional kitchens with far better locations on prominent main road frontages. These larger public houses are generally run by the breweries and have far greater economies of scale than the smaller tenanted properties.”
The report lists eight other pubs within 1.5 miles which offer superior facilities and larger commercial kitchens which compete with The Billy’s.
In 2017, the Burton Mail reported that the pub was already being hit by falling trade and plans were approved to turn it into two shops and five flats.