Fresh application for former Wem pub set to become shop in new plans
A former pub in Wem could yet become a retail outlet, after more new plans for the building were lodged with Shropshire Council this week.
Applicant Mr Andrew Dunsford has applied for permission for a change of use for the pub's former bar area, which he wants to convert from a drinking establishment into a retail unit.
The application is the latest in a long line of planning applications for the Wem High Street building, built on the former site of The Seven Stars Inn.
The Seven Stars was demolished in 1908, before the town's post office was built on the site in the same year. The new building was converted into a pub in the mid-1990's, but closed in 2022.
The building has lain dormant for the past two-and-a-half years following the approval of plans for apartments on the historic site in 2023.
An earlier plan for nine apartments was thrown out by Shropshire Council in February 2022, after they decided that the scheme was an "overbearing" development which had "unacceptable consequences" for neighbouring properties.
An appeal to the planning inspectorate was also dismissed, this time by government inspectors, before a scaled-down plan to build seven new apartments on the site got the green light from Shropshire Council planners the following year.
The council's planning committee set aside ongoing objections from the town's civic society around over-development to grant approval for the scheme, after officers had decided the altered proposals "satisfactorily addressed the previous reasons for refusal".
In March this year the building was once again put up for sale for around £230,000, before being snapped up in early summer.
Approval for the residential development remains in place, although work will need to commence by April next year before it lapses, with the council also requesting an archaeological survey be completed before works begin.
Few details have been submitted with the new application, which is concerned entirely with a change of use for the former pub into a retail space.
Shropshire Council's planning department will decide on the scheme in due course.
Documents and plans for the application can be viewed via the council's online planning portal using reference 25/02859/COU.
