Flats plan for bar’s building in town centre
NINE APARTMENTS PLANNED FOR UPPER FLOOR OF VENUE
VACANT offices above a former music bar in Hinckley could be converted and extended to create a block of flats.
Karns Cafe Bar, on New Buildings, was once a thriving venue hosting regular live gigs and open mic nights, but has not reopened since the first Covid lockdown.
When the Mercury recently ran a poll to ask our readers which town venue they would like to see back in business, Karns got the most votes.
But plans have now been filed to build nine single-bedroom properties above the space, set across three floors, with two extra storeys to be added to the current building to accommodate the homes.
The complex would include five car parking spaces, along with nine cycle racks. The ground floor is currently home to the disused Karns and a branch of estate agents, Ruut Homes.
New Buildings is already home to The Greyhound pub and Stockwells cafe, which launched in May 2019, and connects to Castle Street, the town’s main shopping street.
The new flats scheme was filed by Shreeji Infrastructure Limited, the same group behind a recently approved scheme to redevelop the former St George’s Ballroom, on Horsefair.
That scheme will see the former nightspot, at the back of The Bounty pub, become part of a complex of 44 flats, part of which will be seven storeys.
The block will include 18 single-bedroom, 24 two-bedroom and two threebedroom flats, along with roof terraces and shared gardens.
Longtime town residents may have fond memories of the once popular Art Deco style venue, which dates back to the 1930s, and which was most recently home to Elements nightclub, before it closed in 2012.
Another former
Hinckley haunt mooted to be turned into flats is the previous Sgt Peppers nightclub - formerly Branagans - on Regent Street.
A proposal has been filed to convert the venue into one bedroom flats, with a space fronting onto the street to become a shop.
Access to some of the flats would be created from Blockley’s Yard, with part of the building to be demolished to create a courtyard.
On the plus side for the town’s nightlife, Mexican restaurant chain Benito’s recently launched a new eatery on Regent Street, in part of the former Quartz nightclub.