From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Ruth Cassidy, 23 March 2024.

Bid to transform former Canterbury pub The Bat and Ball into care home and café.

A former Canterbury pub once teeming with fans during cricket matchdays could now become a care home with a community cafe and bar.

Plans have been submitted to convert the site of the "Bat and Ball," which later became "L’hote" boutique hotel.

It would see supported accommodation for adults with learning disabilities built on the Old Dover Road plot.

The bid to breathe new life into the now-closed venue includes transforming its rooms into sheltered housing alongside the community facilities proposed.

The inn closed in 2020 after "L’hote" failed to turn a profit despite owners making significant investments into renovating the building.

In documents submitted to the city council, the venue’s financial woes are blamed on a combination of challenges of the market, Covid-19 and the rise of Airbnb.

Four years on from the closure, the owner has submitted plans to turn the former boozer, which is opposite the Spitfire St Lawrence cricket ground, into seven supported living flats.

Andrew Heywood, a former patron of The Bat and Ball and neighbour, told KentOnline he broadly supports the plans but hoped the new venue would be run with an understanding of the needs of the local community.

The 65-year-old said: “I would love it to revert to what it was formally. This part of Canterbury lacks places to go; there are very few restaurants or pubs.

“The "Phoenix" down the road is a local community asset but I fear that's going to close fairly soon because they are struggling.

“I just think we need more social hubs. I go across the road to the café at the cricket club and it's very nice, but I’m a pub person really and I like going to pubs.”

He continued: “Their plan is better than no bar or pub at all I suppose. I wouldn’t be against the supported living plans but I would like to see some use of it that is similar to what it was before.

“I think a nice family pub where they served Sunday lunches where people would feel safe to go and local groups could meet would be ideal.

“My ideal would be a nice pub that sells reasonable quality food, good ale, is friendly, and welcoming to families and perhaps has a night of live music as something for younger people to go to. A pub for all generations, that is what I would like to see.

“I just think the other end of Canterbury has some nice pubs, like the "Monument" and the "Unicorn," but it's completely lacking over here.

“There’s loads of chimney pots, loads of houses but nowhere for people to walk locally to enjoy a drink in the evening or have a Sunday lunch.

“I have no problem with the assisted living part of the plans as long as some use is being made of it and it is reopened to the community, especially as it's right on my doorstep.”

An extension is planned to the rear of the former L’hote boutique hotel in Old Dover Road, Canterbury.

Originally known as the "First and Last," the watering hole was renamed the "Bat and Ball" in honour of the nearby cricket ground in 1851.

In 2016 the inn was listed for sale for £400,000, although it was also recorded that the property required £250,000 in renovations, ending the residency of Canterbury’s longest-serving licensee Tony Saxby, who had been landlord there for almost 30 years.

Now, if plans are approved, a rear extension will be constructed to provide accessible access to the seven proposed flats.

The next-door residential property is also included in the application, which suggests it could become the residence of the care home’s management.

A spokesman for the Oaten Hill and South Canterbury Association said: “We fully support the new use as providing much-needed socially supportive housing to vulnerable people, but believe there should be a clear statement detailing the management plan for the units.

“Equally, the community bar and café seems likely to be an asset to the community, but there is no information on hours of opening, what kind of licence is being sought, whether hot food will be prepared on the premises, and how refuse and food waste will be stored. Without these details, no assessment can be made of the impact on adjoining properties and local residents.”

Within the documents, the applicant argues the plans will “provide much-needed accommodation for those who need care, respond to the building’s historic use as a hotel and that the bar/café will be enjoyed by the community.

“The alterations are minor and sympathetic to a building which sits in a very prominent location opposite the county cricket ground and we urge the local authority to support the application.”