From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Sean Delaney, 16 December 2022.

Plans to turn Wheatsheaf pub in Swanscombe High Street into cafe and flats approved.

A derelict pub is set to be demolished after plans to erect a café and flats in its place were given the green light.

The Wheatsheaf Pub in Swanscombe High Street is set to be knocked down and given a new lease of life under plans approved by Dartford council.

They include bulldozing the boozer and erecting a three-storey building to provide a ground-floor café and seven flats.

There will also be 31 car parking spaces and eight cycle spaces.

Plans put before Dartford council's development control board were approved by councillors last night subject to certain conditions being met.

The Wheatsheaf sits on a detached corner plot in a built-up residential area at the junction with The Grove.

KentOnline previously reported how pub-goers could be left without a single watering hole along the High Street if plans were to go-ahead.

An early artist impression submitted as part of the consultation process documenting how the development might look.

Last year the building had been re-offered to the market as a pub with a 20-year lease but it is understood the freehold was sold when a suitable takeover bid failed to materialise.

The proposal was accompanied by a viability study carried out by real estate specialists Savills.

It noted the pub was in a "poor state of repair" and accounts showed a decline in trade when last open between 2017 and 2019.

Although there was a small profit in its last year – when the rent was reduced by half – its performance declined from around £145,000 to £130,000 and it made a "considerable loss".

And in a challenging market for pubs post-pandemic the report states it has "no reasonable prospect" of returning and needs significant investment to "refurbish, repair and redecorate" it.

In total there were 36 responses to the application with 16 against and 20 in favour.

A 3D visual of how the new cafe and apartment block might look from the Grove. Photo: Dartford council.

Swanscombe and Greenhithe Town Council had objected on the basis it had "unsuitable parking" and the building was "out of character" with the area.

Other objections centred around the loss of yet another pub and pressure on schools, doctors' surgeries and the High Street which is "used as rat-run", the report said.

But others said it could help solve housing issues while the café element could pave the way for the regeneration of the town in light of a "reduction in groups gathering since the pub closed".

The plans come not long after the closure of the nearby pub The "Alma" along the same stretch of road.

An outline application to knock down the pub and convert it into a 13-bedroom house-share was approved in 2019.

Meanwhile, the future of the The "George and Dragon," which has sat on the corner of the junction between London Road and Swanscombe High Street since 1891, remains uncertain.

The former Victorian coaching inn was subject to two recent conversion bids with franchise chain Domino's Pizza wanting to take over.

But the latest bid was scrapped after an appeal against the decision was turned down by the Planning Inspectorate.