A pub will move into a former Barclays Bank building under plans which have been approved by council planners.
The Astronaut’s new home will be the former bank at Crown Buildings, Queensway, Billingham, which will be modernised with a raised outdoor terrace under the scheme recently given planning permission. The pub is currently in West Precinct, to be knocked down under wider regeneration proposals still under consideration by Stockton Council.
Evolve Estates, the owner of Billingham town centre, asked for consent to change the use from bank to bar at Queensway, with proposed alterations including the seating terrace, access ramps, changes to doors and windows, white and charcoal render to the building, black-painted columns and grey-sprayed window frames. Neighbours were notified and no objections were received to the plans.
As part of the wider plans, the two pubs in the town centre – the Astronaut and Half Moon Inn JD Wetherspoon, both in West Precinct – will be demolished, says the council’s report. It states: “As part of the regeneration works, these two public houses would be relocated within existing units within the district centre.
“It is anticipated that ‘The Astronaut’ would occupy the application site as a bar, and ‘The Half Moon Inn’ would occupy Nos 1-9 Town Square as a public house.” Council planners found the principle of developing the former bank and replacing a pub with a bar was acceptable as there were “few comparable evening uses in the area”, and it would not lead to an “over-concentration of evening economy uses”.
A computer-generated image showing what Queensway in Billingham town centre could look like under plans by Evolve Estates
(Image: Evolve, part of M Core)
The report goes on to say the building would be modernised. It says: “The site is currently vacant and in this instance, given the wider efforts for the regeneration of the centre, located in a prominent position, it is considered that the proposed development would play an important role to the overall function that the centre has to offer.
“The proposed change of use is not considered to harm the character of the district centre as the use would not appear unfamiliar for this commercial area… It is considered that the proposals align with the wider aspirations for the regeneration of the centre.
“The surrounding area is commercial in nature in which the proposed use is not considered to adversely impact upon these nearby occupiers. There are also no immediate residential dwellings.”
The plans were approved with conditions including bar opening times between 9am and 1am Monday to Friday, until 2am Saturdays, from 10am to 11.30pm Sundays, and 10am to 1am Bank Holidays, with no food or drink at the outside seating or smoking area after 10pm. No food will be served at the site, according to the council’s report.
Evolve Estates’ bigger plan to “reinvigorate” Billingham town centre is awaiting a decision from the council. Evolve says it could bring in 120 full-time jobs and £2.6m in earnings for locals in the first phase in the town centre’s development, with less shop space but focusing on empty and near-derelict buildings for “significant, tangible and wide-ranging regeneration” to attract shoppers, residents and businesses.
It has requested planning permission to demolish the “tired and dated” 1960s-built West Precinct shopping and office blocks, buildings on Queensway and the Kingsway West multi-storey car park, erect a new building on Queensway, change the Town Square building’s use for Wetherspoon’s, and create a new car park, along with outline plans for another new 6,000sqm building on Queensway. It says the plans will have “substantial” economic impact, with a “high-quality environment which will make a meaningful contribution to employment and wage generation”, and make way for 160 homes – a separate plan to come this year.
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