Plans to transform former Kimberworth pub into restaurant and shop to get green light
Plans to transform a long-vacant Rotherham pub into a restaurant and convenience store are set to be approved despite concerns about parking, congestion and nearby businesses.
The proposals for the former Green Dragon Inn, on High Street in Kimberworth, will go before Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council’s planning board on September 17 with a recommendation for approval.
The application would see the pub’s ground floor converted into a restaurant, with the two-bedroom home above retained, and existing outbuildings replaced with an attached 180-square-metre retail unit.
The shop is described in planning documents as a “One Stop-type” convenience store.Six representations have been submitted, with residents warning that the combined development could worsen existing traffic and parking pressures on High Street.
Objectors also questioned the need for another shop, raised concerns about the potential effect on existing businesses and said the glass-fronted design initially proposed for the retail extension would be out of keeping with the area.
Concerns were also expressed about potential damage or instability affecting neighbouring Grade II-listed former farm buildings.
The plans have since been amended, with the proposed extension narrowed by more than 25 per cent and set back two metres from the front of the former pub.
A flat-roofed frontage has also been replaced with a more traditional pitched-roof design.
The council’s conservation officer concluded that the revised scheme would have a “largely neutral” effect on the setting of the listed building.
Planning documents state that the Green Dragon has been vacant for a prolonged period and marketed for use as a pub without attracting a viable operator.
Officers said alternative licensed premises were available within an 800-metre walk and concluded that bringing the vacant building back into use outweighed the loss of the pubThe scheme would provide 17 shared parking spaces for the restaurant and shop, plus one for the upstairs accommodation.
Although residents warn of increased congestion, the council’s highways service raised no objections and found that the development would have sufficient parking.
If approved, the convenience store could open between 7am and 10pm, while the restaurant would be limited to noon until 10pm.
Deliveries would be prohibited between 9pm and 7am. Conditions controlling noise, cooking smells and extraction equipment have also been recommended to protect neighbouring homes.
Council officers said the redevelopment would create jobs, reduce the risk of anti-social behaviour and return a long-empty building to use.