Convenience store plans lodged for a second time that could transform ‘eyesore’ pub

An ‘eyesore’ pub could become a convenience store after a planning application has been submitted for the second time.

New proposals have been filed by Hardip Singh to change Newcastle House on Ingram Road into a food store.

The boozer in Berwick Hills has been empty for some time and Cllr Lee Garvey and Cllr Donna Jones have been calling for it to be tidied up as the site is becoming increasingly derelict.

He added: “Something needs to be done with it, as it stands it’s an eyesore.”

However, the council has previously rejected plans to turn it into a convenience store because it said that the change would negatively affect the Berwick Hills Centre, which is less than l0 minutes walk away.

In February 2021, when the application was turned down, a Middlesbrough Council spokesperson said: “The proposed use is considered inappropriate in this case as it fails the requirements of the sequential test, it would have a detrimental impact upon the vitality and viability of the nearby Berwick Hills Centre.”

“The proposed scheme has not adequately demonstrated the site has suitable capacity of car parking and servicing which would be required for a use of this nature taking into account the need for such traffic to manoeuvre through the site.”

The Berwick Hills Centre, which is on the site of the former Kwik Save supermarket, has Heron Foods, Greggs, Dominos and a tanning salon.

In the new report, to go alongside the planning application, ELG Planning which is working on behalf of Mr Singh, has argued that the site is the only appropriate place for the store in the area.

It states that the available lets at the Berwick Hills Centre are not suitable because they are 40 per cent smaller than Newcastle House.

Empty units on Norfolk Place and the former Effigy beauty salon were also rejected because of the lack of space.

The application argues that the Berwick Hills Centre will not be impacted because the Newcastle House store will serve a ‘highly localised catchment area, which is relatively small-in-scale’.

According to the plans, the first-floor accommodation will remain as residential space under these proposals.

Middlesbrough Council should reach a decision on the application by Thursday, November 18.