Plan for empty Old Coach House pub in Market Deeping to be flats

Plans have been submitted to convert an abandoned Market Deeping pub into five flats.

An application to South Kesteven District Council by business owner Roy Stanton says the Old Coach House at Bridge Foot by the River Welland was originally used as stabling and a hayloft before being extended and converted into a wine bar by a former owner in 1990.

The application added: “Whilst standing empty, the building is being vandalised in spite of best efforts to keep the lovely stone, period property secure. The fabric of the building is also deteriorating.”

Last week, Andy Pelling, chairman of Deeping Business Club raised the application at a meeting of Market Deeping Town Council.

Mr Pelling says the pub, when it was a successful restaurant, employed many local people. The Deepings has lost other similar premises and he fears the loss of employment sites in the Deepings will lead to many more people commuting to Peterborough.

District councillor Ashley Baxter (Ind) told the Mercury the conversion of the pub “is of concern” to residents considering the loss of licensed premises in the area recently.

Dickie Bird, branch secretary of Peterborough and area Camra, said this was the first his group had heard of the application. Recent regulation changes have made it harder to have pubs declared Assets of Community value, which can protect pubs from other uses.

He added if the pub was to be saved, the application would “need a groundswell of disapproval” from the Deepings community.

• An earlier article on this website and printed in the Mercury about the Old Coach House in Market Deeping being potentially turned into flats suggested that former owners, who bought the business in 2007, had run into financial difficulties while running the establishment and had removed stock and machinery from the premises. This couple has contacted the Mercury to say this is untrue and have asked us to point out that they were not in financial difficulties, nor did the business go into liquidation or was repossessed. The couple voluntarily gave up possession of the building and are currently in a legal dispute with Roy Stanton and other parties over the ownership of the building. The Mercury apologises for the distress caused by this article to the couple, which was published in good faith based on documents that were in the public domain.