Permission has been granted to convert the former Wheatsheaf pub at St Lawrence into flats.
The pub, which already has a 3-bedroom flat upstairs, has been shut since prior to 2020. The granted application is to turn the site into three flats, with one 4-bed and two 2-bed properties.
Last year a proposal to convert the building into one flat, a 4-bed house of multiple occupation (HMO) and a 5 bed HMO was refused by Thanet council.
The High Street pub had been put up for sale in 2018 but no buyer was found. It had been run by the owners as a family pub for 18 years before a decision to sell had to be made.
Applicant Estia Property Solutions Ltd wanted to convert the property to two Houses of Multiple Occupation and a one-bedroom flat. In December 2022 it lodged a new application for conversion to 3 self-contained flats.
In the previous application Estia said the Wheatsheaf: “was deemed unviable to continue as a public house for the minimum of the past two years and was put to sale since with no success of being purchased to the moment.
“The aim is to provide more accommodation in the area with professionals and key-workers as the target audience.”
Ten objections were received against the original application with concerns such as the pub only being marketed during the pandemic and overdevelopment.
Thanet CAMRA lodged an objection to the amended plans highlighting the view that there was “no indication that the site is finished as a public house” and “the building is a good example of a brewers Tudor style of pub built around 1900 and only 2 other examples still operate in Ramsgate.”
Thanet CAMRA added: “Trying to prevent the unnecessary loss of historic community pubs is, or should be, a high consideration of Thanet council’s planning policies.”
One letter of support was also received saying they could: “see why, after reviewing the submitted turnover and profit details, they have cease trading,” and “Three flats is a better solution than the HMOs proposed under the previous application.”
Thanet planning officers said: “Whilst the application would see the loss of a community facility it is considered that there are a number of other public houses and community facilities in the local area not to undermine the ability of the community to meet its day to day needs. The development would also contribute to the housing supply within the district, whilst providing the re-use of a non-designated heritage asset.”
The exterior of the building will undergo minimal change.
Last October emergency services were called to the property and had to shut the road due to debris falling from the building.
The permission notice was issued today (May 10).
Another Local pub gone, i spent a lot of time in this old pub years ago, shame ramsgates pubs are all going out of business
If the businesses were viable, they wouldn’t close.
Hurrah! Captain Neoliberal swoops in to put us all straight their one dimensional view of society.
What a crying shame. Just so some rich fool can buy it and flip it for ridiculous profits.
There needs to be more scrutiny under these deals and especially who profits from them.
TDC don’t give a monkey’s about our history and heritage.
What’s it got to do with TDC?
If the Planning application was all in order, then the Council couldn’t refuse it.
Blame the pubco that shut down the pub.
Blame the customers who’d stopped coming.
CAMRA disagrees.
I think you need to expand your answer a bit.
What do CAMRA disagree with?
Well slap my thigh and call me Susan! Who would have thought it?!
Hello, Susan.
i agree with all the above comments , greed will always prevail in thanet. any idea where the 2 and 3 car families will park ? just a thought
Why do families need 2 or 3 cars? There’s the Loop bus just down the road.
Is that the same Loop that Ramsgate kids throw bricks at?
Almost 100% of Loop buses don’t get bricks thrown at them.
Many cars never get “keyed”, nor have their wing mirrors ripped off, either
“Is that the same Loop that Ramsgate kids throw bricks at?”
It must be terrible living your life in fear of one off incidents and conflating them with regular occurrences.
On the double-yellows, same as usual…
A few flats in a currently empty Edwardian building within walking distance of the town centre- what’s wrong with that?
Marva Rees
You must be dancing in the streets, Martha!
Shame on Thanet council-Nice pubs like The orb and The sportsman gone-Why dont they knock down westwood cross and build flats there.
Knowing down WWX and building homes there would tick so many boxes.
Yes Mark, its the councils fault that the businesses were no longer financially viable and because of that, no-one wanted to take them over so the owners sold them on to developers.
People questioning if the people will have cars and why?!?
Are you for real?
You cannot wish cars away. It’s clear most people have cars. Most families now have 2 cars. Even with the fuel prices it’s still cheaper and quicker to have a car to do little trips round Thanet. For essentials etc.
People won’t move away from cars with the current prices and state of public transport no matter how much a few seem to think they will.
You need to address the issues with public transport and the issues with electric vehicles first.
All of your preaching and condescending comments really won’t cut through. People will still drive their cars and planning permissions need to be realistic about cars/traffic and its impact.
So far all the government and councils have done is weaponise “green” into an income without addressing any of the real issues.
Realism in any decisions and debate is key.
Just saying “sell your cars and use the bus” it’s pie in the sky.
Let’s all sell our houses and move into caves.
People who criticize the current usage of private cars are neither “preaching” nor being condescending. They are being realistic.I can’t drive, so I’m never going to be a driver stuck in a traffic jam caused by other drivers, and my concerns are only going to be focussed on the damage mass car use causes to people’s health and to the environment.
Marva Rees
Phyllida, Buses also get caught up in the congestion and gridlock in Thanet. It can only get worse with the useless planning departments we have with no forward thinking skills, and all the overdevelopment that already exists never mind what is to come through their crazy Local Plan. We need to be cutting the dependency on vehicles but that means less development in areas such as Thanet which is almost entirely surrounded by sea. One main way in and one way out !
No thanks, not at the current price of a cave in Thanet !!
“Even with the fuel prices it’s still cheaper and quicker to have a car to do little trips round Thanet. ”
First of all, I doubt that that’s true. Bus fares are currently capped at £2 max. When you look at the cost of driving, do you factor in *all* the costs (including depreciation)?
And people really, really have to get away from the notion that the car is the first choice for “…little trips round Thanet”
When my house was built (1907), there were no cars, and there is no provision for parking 1 car, let alone 2 or 3.
Some places but in the ’80s did have provision for 1 car.
So if the expectation is that there will be 3 car households, what do you suggest? Knock down houses built before 2000? Flatten the town centre and make it into an enormous carpark?
Provide cheap, frequent and joined-up public transport services?
Why do many pensioners, with free bus travel, still use their cars instead?
Id rather not use public transport, there’s people and if i had a car id rather drive. as it is the last time i used a bus would have been ten odd years ago, cant stand them
Id rather not use public transport, there’s people and if i had a car id rather drive. as it is the last time i used a bus would have been ten odd years ago, cant stand them…
Whats car got to do with the pub being changed during covid I add.. Its part of Ramsgate history. Tdc planners dgaff
“its part of Ramsgate history”
and much like a lot of stuff in history, times and people evolve and things get consigned to the dustbin.
We get it. Change scares you.
A lack of pubs scares me!
The same people and their thinking towards Manston. It has a place in history but times change.
Looking further. I see that Kent County Council have lent this solution company our money. On proerty in margate and westgate. What the heck is my council tax donated to
A company with no track record.. Tdc wish to comment. Ian you just ruined Ramsgate history. What is the position of KCC involvement. This company have no track record but taken money from us all.
Why don’t you just submit some FOI requests and ask the right people the right questions, or is that too much like hard work?
“There’s people” on public transport? Well yes, that’s what public transport is all about. There are people in parks,shops, pubs, cinemas and libraries too…and on streets, beaches and bikes.
Wonder who’ll be responsible for maintaining it as a listed building – not the freeholder, I’ll bet!