PLANNING chiefs have approved proposals to transform a Southampton pub by adding 20 hotel bedrooms and an outside seating area on the first floor.
JD Wetherspoon has been given the go-ahead to make a raft of improvements to The Standing Order, a former bank in the High Street.
The upper floors of the large, four-storey building have been vacant for several years.
Now the company has received consent to upgrade the pub by converting the first floor into extra floorspace and providing bedrooms on the second and third storeys.
The scheme also includes a beer garden at first-floor level and a new glass roof enclosing a light well on the south side of the building.
Similar proposals have been approved in the past but the work was never carried out.
A planning statement submitted to the council said: "The main focus of this application is the conversion of the second and third floors to be operated in conjunction with the public house.
"The South Hampshire Hotel Futures Study (2010) identified opportunities for significant new hotel development.
"It reported that in 2010 the city centre had 19 hotels with a total of 1,462 rooms. Although there have been proposals for new hotels, relatively few have opened in the last five years.
"The study projected that 14 new hotels and 1,340 new rooms were required to 2031."
The application said proposed alterations to the back of the building would improve an "unsightly" extension as well as enhancing the bin storage area.
Referring to the roof terrace it added: "External seating areas have become particularly critical to the viability of the hospitality sector over the past few years, with intermittent Covid-19 restrictions reducing indoor capacity and a preference by many to remain in an outdoor setting."
One of the pub's exterior walls incorporates part of the 12th-century St Lawrence Church, which used to stand on the site.
A council report said the authority's heritage officer had no objection to the scheme, subject to conditions to minimise any impact on the building's historic features.
It added: "The proposed alterations to the rear will improve the unsightly rear extension and will tidy up the bin storage arrangement which currently overspills into the pavement.
"A roof terrace is acceptable given the context, however hours of use controls are recommended (8am-10pm) to prevent unreasonable noise disturbance of nearby residents."
JD Wetherspoon has been contacted for comment.
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