Baron Pfetten, owner of Apethorpe Palace, submits plans to turn former Willow and Brook pub in Apethorpe into a house

A baron who owns a village pub has submitted plans to turn it into housing.

Jean Christophe Iseux, Baron von Pfetten, wants to turn the former Willow and Brook pub in Apethorpe into housing.

The baron bought the pub in 2017, a couple of years after he acquired the Grade I listed country house Apethorpe Palace, and carried out an extensive refurbishment of the property in King’s Cliffe Road.

The doors to the pub have been shut since April last year, with soaring prices blamed for the closure.

Suzanne and Jim Millar took over the pub in January 2020, just two months before the first national lockdown, and renamed it The Willow and Brook.

It was previously called the King’s Head and has had a number of different owners in recent years.

Since its closure it has been marketed for rent, but no new tenant has been found.

The plans to turn it into a house, which have been submitted to North Northamptonshire Council, include building a wall in the restaurant to create a dining room and living room.

According to the design and access statement, this would be easily removable to ‘allow the Willow and Brook to re-open if the hospitality market conditions improve in the future’.

To see more planning applications and other public notices for your area, visit publicnoticeportal.uk.

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