A pub in Loudwater that has been empty and boarded up for four years could be turned into a 21-room house of multiple occupancy (HMO).

The Happy Union, on the junction of Boundary Road and Treadaway Hill, closed mid-2020 after a decline in business and has sat empty ever since.

Veinard Investments, a London-based company which bought the pub after its closure, submitted plans to demolish it and build a three-storey block of flats in its place in 2022 but was met with resistance from neighbours and the council on the grounds of “loss of a community facility” and a “detrimental” impact on the appearance of the area.

Failing that, the site was listed on the market for £900k in January 2023 – but Veinard didn't have much luck on that front either, if a renewed application to turn the building into housing, submitted this month, is anything to go by.

The Happy Union pub closed in 2020 and has sat empty ever since(Image: Google)

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The new plans lay out a more restrained proposal to change the building into a 21-room house of multiple occupation (HMO), including converted "habitable" roof space, in what the developer says would “significantly contribute to (local) unmet housing need”.

Planning documents say the proposal was “carefully designed to ensure the change of use would have no adverse impact on the character and appearance of the area” and suggest that the “community facility” argument wheeled out in 2022 no longer applies due to the “considerable time” the pub has sat empty.

They also state that five existing parking spaces adjacent to The Happy Union would be expanded to 16 – after the previous application put forward 11 spaces, prompting neighbours to express concern over “extremely limited” parking in the area, with a new development potentially “increasing traffic at an already dangerous roundabout”.

The proposed ground floor plan (Image: Buckinghamshire Council)

New planning documents appear to take this into consideration – suggesting that “a large number of residents” would be likely to travel via bus, bike or on foot, and that the 16 spaces were a large enough parking area to meet demand while “not leading to additional on-street parking (or) having an unacceptable impact on highway safety”.

Aside from some internal alterations and extensions to the side, rear and roof of the building “to facilitate the proposed use”, the “dilapidated” pub would largely retain its current appearance if the plans are approved.

The developer also suggested that the change of use would “bring the vacant building back into much-needed residential use and tidy up the car park and landscaping, which would significantly enhance the character of the area".

The layout of the HMO would comprise 21 rooms spread out across three floors, including the converted roof, with a kitchen and seven other communal rooms spread out across the levels.