A FORMER Bridgwater pub could be converted into a café and over 30 short-stay studio flats to help accommodate Hinkley Point C workers.

Plans have been submitted for the vacant Bridgwater Arms pub, which is located at 41 St. Mary Street in the town centre and parts of which date from the mid-18th Century.

The applicant, William Abbott Group, is proposing to convert the former Grade Two listed public house into 13 short-stay studio apartments, with a café utilising 136 square metres of space.

The plans also outline the demolition of existing outbuildings and the construction of a further 21 short stay studio apartments. Any such changes to the building would require a change of use.

The former pub has been closed for many years, with historic use of the building as a public house of the ground floor and hotel accommodation on the first and second floors.

According to a Planning Statement submitted to Somerset Council, the studio apartments are “aimed at providing affordable by design, short term, rental accommodation to help meet the housing needs of the town, which include workers at Hinkley Point.”

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Parking for up to four cars would be provided in the courtyard area, accessed from Friarn Street. 

A Heritage Statement, submitted to Somerset Council by AS Archaeology and Heritage Services, details the current state of the building from two site visits in 2023.

“The interior of the Bridgwater Arms was in a poor state, with vandalism and damage from water penetration and dam evident on all floors.”

In addition, the probability of continuing decay places the building in an “at-risk state”, according to the Heritage Statement.

A Transport Statement also submitted to Somerset Council for the application outlines that Bridgwater bus station is 500 metres away from the former public house and provides "access to main employment centres and service centres, including a staff-only service for employees at the Hinkley C construction site.”

To view the application and submit comments by December 31, 2024, visit Somerset Council’s planning portal using reference: 08/24/00155