THE LAST pint has been poured at a historic Southam pub which looks set to be turned into flats.
The Bull Inn closed its doors for the final time some 18 months ago and with the pub unable to find a new buyer, the grade II-listed building has been empty ever since.
The pub was previously owned by Punch Taverns but high rent prices were said to have driven out its last landlords, Jeff and Joyce Doherty, whose Paratrooper son JJ was killed fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2008.
Developers Oscar Homes Ltd are now looking to convert the building on Bull Street into six flats.
They have applied for a change of use and are hoping to create an extension at the back of the pub along with a number of car parking spaces.
The application is set to be considered by Stratford District Council’s planning committee at a meeting next Wednesday (November 25).
A council officer said: “Southam is a sustainable location for new residential development. The pub has been marketed and no purchaser has been found to continue running the premises.
“On the basis it is located within a settlement, which benefits from facilities including other pubs, it would be difficult to justify refusal of the application on the basis of the loss of a community facility.”
Officers are recommending the plans be given the green light by councillors at the upcoming meeting.
