Listed pub could become a Co-op

The Co-operative Group wants to make internal and outside alterations at the Crown Hotel on High Street in Boston Spa, near Wetherby, which closed due changes in the traditional pub trade such as the smoking ban, according to planning documents.

This follows a previous application and an appeal in 2014 by Tesco to develop the Grade II-listed site before plans were withdrawn.

In September 2015, the pub was listed as an Asset of Community Value, designating it as property which of importance to the area and which is subject to additional protection from development under the Localism Act 2011.

But planning notes submitted with the application, drafted by the Co-op’s agent Edgeplan Limited, read: “The building has, however, not been used as a public house for five years and despite the owners’ thorough review of the building’s future following the withdrawal of Tesco’s offer to lease it, there is no prospect of it reopening in this form.”

It was formerly run by Enterprise Inns, but the documents read that “structural changes in the licensed trade” such as the smoking ban and people drinking at home made it unviable.

The notes also state that the site’s existing main entrance will be retained along with its timber doors.

But the majority of fixtures and fittings including seating, bar furniture, the kitchen and toilet would be ripped out.

The applicant was contacted for comment.

City planners are due to make a decision about whether to grant permission by September 18, and people can comment on the online application.