Threat still hangs over Foresters
TOWN Hall planners have blocked proposals to close a popular Luton pub and allow retail giant Tesco to open a store in its place.
The supermarket chain applied for planning permission to extend the rear and side of the ground floor of the current Forresters Arms pub on the corner of Windsor Street back in March.
But Luton Borough Council’s development control committee rejected the plans because the building would be “out of keeping with the scale, composition and integrity of the surrounding properties to the detriment of the character of the area.”
The committee also deemed the extension to leave inadequate delivery and parking space.
The decision will come as a welcome one to local shop and business owners, many of whom were up in arms at the plans.
Ten letters objecting to the opening of the supermarket were sent to Luton Borough Council and two petitions with a total of 27 signatures were also submitted in addition to a further petition against the closure of the Foresters Arms with 279 names on it.
The committee had been recommended to approve the decision subject to several conditions.
The site is also home to a taxi firm.
But the future remains uncertain for the pub itself with owner Admiral Taverns previously having reached a tenancy agreement with Tesco and threatening to close the pub regardless of whether planning permission was approved or not.
In a letter to the council to support the planning application, the company said: “After careful analysis of the pub and its trading history, we do not believe the Foresters is sustainable as a viable pub in the long term and as such have looked at alternative uses for the asset.
“Admiral Taverns owns two other public houses within 200 yards of the Foresters and the long term viability of these two sites will be supported through the change of use of the Foresters.”
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Monday 20 May 2013
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