Cheltenham BC have received a planning application to develop the Prince of Wales into a “House of Multiple Occupancy” (HMO). See ref# 15/00853/LBC for full details, but within the ‘design access statement’ is this:
“Without historical trading information about the Prince of Wales it is difficult to comment on its’ value to the community. We do know however that Enterprise Inns (owners from 2002 to 2014) only dispose of pubs which are “unsustainable” and have “limited trading potential”. They are the UK’s leading leased and tenanted pub operator with a portfolio of 5000 public houses. This suggests that the Prince of Wales was not achieving the profitability they required of their leased businesses. Enterprise had owned the business for twelve years before they marketed it for sale in October 2014. Interestingly, they still have 13 leased pubs within one mile of the Prince of Wales. Fleurets are one of the UK’s largest leisure business estate agency. They began advertising the pub for sale in October 2014 and we (the developers) purchased the Prince of Wales in March 2015; it took six months to be sold. Fleurets did advise that there was no interest from any pub retailers, again suggesting the business had limited trading potential.”
Lets hope this isn’t another Cheltenham Pub we have lost!