Kingswood pub with planning permission for children’s nursery goes up for sale

A boarded-up Kingswood pub with planning permission to be turned into a children’s nursery has been put on the market.

The stone-built Flower Pot Inn in High Street dates from 1890 and closed in 2017. In 2021, plans to turn the Victorian pub into a 125-place children’s nursery was granted but there has been no sign of development since.

The freehold property is now being sold by real estate company CSquared for an undisclosed price, available on application by interested parties.

CSquared says the pub has current planning permission for a nursery but also has ‘possibility of residential development’ subject to planning.

The planning application was originally made by Exeter-based Flowerpot Properties Ltd but it is not known whether that company still owns the building or if it intends to continue with the plans to turn the pub into a nursery.

At the time, the pub was described as being in a “deteriorating state of repair”, while outbuildings at the back were said to be “in a state of dilapidation”.

The Flower Pot Inn is located close to the site of the Tennis Court Inn, which was turned into flats by a developer in 2015 despite a petition to save the pub.

The year before that, The Highwayman pub was also demolished and new homes built on the site. In 2018, Kingswood also lost The Shant pub in Crown Road, which was knocked down to make way for ten new houses.

Nathan Clark of CSquared said: “The freehold interest is being sold as seen with the benefit of the planning consent for a 125-place nursery.

“It will be for a new party to take forward however they see fit, including the potential for an alternative form of development, subject to the necessary planning consents.”

In 2021, permission was also sought to demolish the outbuildings and build four new semi-detached homes in their place.

This was refused by South Gloucestershire Council, which said the proposed development, if approved, would represent “a cramped and contrived form of development, which fails to represent the highest standards of design”.

The planning officer also said such a development “would result in an unacceptable impact of overlooking, loss of privacy, inter-visibility, and overbearingness” to neighbouring dwellings.