Hotel bid for listed building moves forward

Work to convert a listed building into a hotel has moved forward.

Pitmaston House in Worcester is finally being converted into a hotel under plans by Blockworks after years of wrangles between the developer and neighbours over fears that late-night revelry had turned the listed building into a ‘party’ house.

Blockworks, which owns the grade II listed building off Malvern Road, has now had to apply again to Worcester City Council for ‘retrospective’ permission to build two en-suite bathrooms – work which has already been carried out – and convert five existing bathrooms into bedrooms.

Last year, a controversial bid to convert the grade II listed building into a hotel was backed by Worcester City Council’s planning committee despite long-standing concerns about disruption.

The decision came after years of complaints from neighbours who said that ‘shouting, screaming and loud music into the early hours’ at the short-term let had turned a quiet residential street into ‘a holiday resort in Spain.’

Blockworks was ordered to cancel all future bookings in March last year after it was discovered the building did not have the correct planning permission.

Planners said the hotel would have to be staffed 24 hours a day, outdoor music would have to be banned and the outdoor terrace and swimming pool could not be used after 8pm for the plan to be acceptable.

The council said it was “comfortable” that Blockwork’s hotel plan was a ‘different beast’ to previous flat and short-term holiday let plans that had previously been turned down, and that Pitmaston House could be “monitored and investigated” easier if any problems did crop up in the future.

The owners of Pitmaston House had been battling with the council over gaining the correct planning permission for the St John’s building after its proposals to convert seven rooms into a mix of residential and holiday flats – work that had already been carried out – was rejected at the end of 2020.

The owners of Pitmaston House were then served with an enforcement notice by the city council in March last year after continuing to open up the listed building as a guesthouse and holiday apartments without the correct planning permission.