Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Micropub plan for Westgate Towers
Bosses at The Pound are planning to open a micropub in one of the Westgate Towers.
They have applied to Canterbury City Council for permission to convert the south tower, a former Second World War communications post.
If granted, the pub will be called The Comms Room and will include restored wartime features – with ale barrels stored in former gun loop alcoves.
The company, One Pound Lane, operates the bar and function rooms at the old city gaol, the museum in the Westgate Towers next door, and now has an outdoor terrace linked by a bridge to the bar.
Co-owner Stephen Allen said: “Obviously, micropubs are very popular these days.
“It’s a small room so you can only fit about 10 people in it and it’s the last space that we had not used so we had been thinking of what to do with it.
“We won’t be brewing the beer, but we will be getting local Kentish cask ales and celebrating the fact that there are so many good breweries around here.
“At the moment we are considering having it open to the general public, but also making it available for private events like birthday parties.”
One Pound Lane has submitted a planning application for the work on tower, which is the one nearest the Westgate Gardens. It should be heard later in the year.
When the plans for the Pound first emerged in 2014, they included a restaurant and office space to rent.
Mr Allen is hoping that the restaurant can open in October.
He said: “It will be British food, decent gastro pub fare.
“This planning application also includes the change of use of a couple of the offices to allow us to create the prep kitchen to support the small main kitchen downstairs. Depending on planning permission and recruitment, we’re aiming to open the kitchen in October this year.
“We’ve just opened the new terrace with the bridge over the Stour and that’s going really well.”
But Mr Allen admitted that the company had abandoned plans to make upstairs rooms available for business rental.
He added: “Unfortunately, due to the lack of space within the building and underestimating the amount of storage and prep space needed for the kitchen we are unable to find space for the business hub.
“It would have been a great use of the spare space in the building had there been any. Most importantly, all areas of the building have been restored to the highest standards and in full use.”