A BID to convert a Gornal pub into shops and flats has been submitted to the council.

The application to turn The Spills Meadow pub on Kent Street into three shops and three flats to preserve the building's future has gone in to Dudley Council.

Notes to planners state the pub closed in June 2022 and was put up for sale.

Dudley News:

Marsden's sold the pub last August with the new owners asking the former landlady to keep it running purely as a security measure, 

A design and access statement said: "There is no prospect of the building being brought back into a viable commercial use as a public house.

"Site marketing has also been carried out and this confirmed that there is no reasonable way to make the pub profitable again, given the demographic locally has massively changed.

Dudley News: How the new frontage would lookHow the new frontage would look (Image: Stephen G Symonds RIBA)

"The conclusion is therefore that the Spills meadow site and a pub is no longer or a focal point in this location."

The new plan features three shops on the ground floor, three flats on the first floor and 21 car parking spaces.

Notes to planners state: "Whilst this development would result in the loss of a community asset, this would be replaced by a range of sustainably located retail premises that would ensure that the Gornal/Kent Street Local Centre would be enhanced and continue to provide a local focal point for the community, and enhance the ability of the community to meet its day to day needs."

The plan is from firm 90 Squared.