Kentish Express Ashford & District
Plan to demolish former listed pub and put up block of flats
Plans have been submitted to knock down an historic pub to make way for more flats near Ashford town centre.
The Prince Albert pub became derelict after closing in 2008 and was gutted by fire in 2014.
But now developers have submitted an application to Ashford Borough Council to demolish the formerly listed Georgian building and replace it with a block of modern flats.
Applicant Whitehaven Estates Limited has put forward the scheme, which proposes 14 twobedroom apartments, 14 car parking spaces, bin and cycle storage and a plant area on the ground floor plus 900 sq ft of ground floor commercial space, which could be used for shops or offices.
The application says: “The site lies within the Ashford Urban Area in a highly sustainable location, close to the town centre, local services and public transport links including Ashford International Railway Station.
“The site is adjacent to listed buildings. However, the poor and deteriorating condition of these buildings means that their removal and replacement with the high quality development proposed will improve the setting of the adjacent buildings.
“Fourteen additional residential units will help to contribute towards Ashford borough’s five year housing supply deficit.”
The pub was previously known as The Prince of Orange. It was known locally as The Three Ones, because it sits on 111 New Street alongside the former Barrow Hill Barracks, which also has several listed buildings from the Napoleonic period.
Originally, The Prince Albert was on the left, and The Prince of Orange was the main pub on the right, before being joined under the same name.
The 2014 blaze caused damage to most of the historic features which had been protected by the historic listing and the Doric column doorway was then stolen.
The site was de-listed from the Grade II register by Historic England on the May 10 2016 “as little of the historically significant fab- ric remained”.
For more information, search planning application 17/01118/AS on planning.ashford.gov.uk Ashford Museum curator Ian Sharp has been at the forefront of the campaign to save the building. He said: “We need to keep Ashford’s heritage... preservation not demolition.
“At this time Ashford borough is recorded as having more listed buildings than Canterbury or Maidstone.
“The way things are disappearing, this record will not last.
“The Prince Albert was an old ale house and could be restored. The Prince of Orange, or The Three Ones as it was known as on 111 New Street, was named after the Prince who fought for the British at the Battle of Waterloo.”
Campaigners say they hope that pressure can be put on councillors to reject the plans.