Shrewsbury’s fire damaged Oxon Priory pub lined up for demolition
A fire-damaged Shrewsbury pub ‘must be demolished to avoid potential instability and uncontrolled collapse’, planners have been told.
Brewer Greene King has applied to Shropshire Council to pull down the Oxon Priory in Welshpool Road, Shelton.
The demolition work is set to be started and finished next month (Nov 2025), council planners have been told. The original two and three storey sections of the building are estimated to have been built circa 1900.
Planning agents have told the council that the fire on the evening of October 6 “appears to have originated within the first-floor accommodation of the property, above the ground floor bar area.
“A section of the timber first-floor, above the ground floor bar area, has collapsed with some elements remaining precariously suspended from the walls in an unstable and unsafe condition.
“External masonry gable walls previously restrained by the collapsed roof structure were noted to be free-standing and potentially unstable due to the loss of lateral restraint.”
The three-story section of the building could only be inspected internally at ground floor level and externally as there was no safe access into the upper floors of the building, the agents wrote.
Some sections of the building to the north and west of do not appear to have suffered fire damage but there is water and smoke damage “thought to be the result of the fire-fighting operations.”
Planners have been told that careful coordination and supervision will be required during the demolition to minimise damage to the remaining sections of the building.
But that demolition of the damaged and unstable sections “may cause damage to the remaining buildings to the north and west, which may lead to the demolition works extending into these areas.”
Demolition experts are planning to use long reach mechanical plant to allow demolition to be carried out from a safe distance, minimising the risk of injury to operatives.
They add that the three storey section of the building “must be demolished in order to avoid potential instability and uncontrolled collapse.”
The pub’s cellar is set to be back filled with the site secured with hoarding.
The plans can be seen on the Shropshire Council planning website with the reference 25/04054/DEM.
You can find out more about planning applications and planned roadworks where you live by visiting publicnoticeportal.uk
