Plans to demolish pub and build seven houses rejected at appeal

Hopes of saving a community’s only pub have been boosted after developers lost an appeal to turn it into houses.

Proposals to demolish the Giant Goram, the last bar in Lawrence Weston, and replace it with seven homes were rejected by Bristol City Council 12 months ago.

Hawkfield Homes appealed against the decision to the Planning Inspectorate, which held a hearing in January.

The government inspector announced on Thursday, February 4 that he has dismissed the appeal after refuting the developers’ claims that the pub was no longer economically viable.

In his ruling, John Wilde said the test for this in the council’s planning policies was set out by the Campaign for Real Ale, comprising 11 criteria such an assessment of local trade, customer potential, competition, parking and flexibility of the site.

He said: “The evidence before me does not deal in any detail whatsoever with any of the above issues. It does, however, deal with the marketing that has been carried out.”

Wilde said the pub had been put on the market most recently during the pandemic and by a residential estate agency rather than a specialist licenced premises agent.

An artist’s impression of how the seven homes would look. Image: Nash Partnership

The inspector said that while former owners the Wellington Pub Company, which sold the property to Hawkfield in September 2019, may not have seen it as a profitable enterprise, “I am not persuaded that other models of ownership/operation have been fully considered and could not be successful”.

“It has not been demonstrated that the pub is no longer economically viable or that a diverse range of public house provision exists within the locality,” he said.

Wilde said the council’s planning policy required existing community facilities to be retained unless there was no longer a need, saying: “To my mind the Giant Goram has to be defined as a community facility.

“It is the last of the original five pubs in Lawrence Weston, a community that has also lost many of its other facilities. Further housing in the community is due to be developed in the near future.

“It has not been shown that there is no longer a need to retain the pub and alternative provision has not been made.”

The inspector said development would result in the total loss of a locally listed building. A locally listed building is considered important to an area’s heritage. It is different from a listed building in that it is not listed by the secretary of state, nationally significant or granted legal protection.

“I acknowledge that the age, layout, siting and structure of the building make it a challenge to retain and that demolition could be seen to be the obvious answer,” Wilde said.

“However, I am not persuaded that every possible option has been thoroughly and comprehensively evaluated.”

The Giant Goram is the last of five pubs that were in Lawrence Weston. Photo: Google

Former landlady Beverly Gardner-Ponting revealed in September 2019 she had been given 28 days’ notice to leave the pub by the Wellington Pub Company.

Not long after she had pulled her final pint, the firm sold the building to Clevedon-based construction firm Hawkfield Homes, which applied for planning permission for the new houses.

City council planning officers rejected this in February 2020 because  by demolishing the last remaining public house in Lawrence Weston”.

There was also a lack of evidence to demonstrate it was no longer economically viable or there was not a need for it.

Planners also felt the “total demolition of the existing building would fail to respect the historic and social value of the building and would harm the character and local distinctiveness of the area”.

They said the proposal “fails to provide for the financial contributions required to reduce the single person car trips from the development and provide pedestrian crossing facilities with dropped kerbs” at several nearby junctions, a factor the planning inspector agreed with.

The developers submitted their appeal in September last year, stating that “it is evident the Giant Goram is unviable as a public house”.

Adam Postans is a local democracy reporter for Bristol.

Main image: Nash Partnership

Read more: New council homes for Lockleaze, Brentry, Horfield and Lawrence Weston