Pub to be converted into house after decade of closure

The fate of the First and Last pub in Ormesby - which suffered a serious fire in 2019 - was finally sealed after councillors granted permission for the plan.

The scheme will see two four-bedroom detached houses and two three-bedroom semi-detached homes built next to the converted pub.

The project is just the latest in a long line of bids to bring the building back into use, stretching back years.

The First and Last pub in Ormesby has been closed for a decade (Image: Liz Coates)

The now-approved plan had received 47 public comments, which ranged from concerns around parking, to a loss of privacy, to the blurring of the boundary gap between Ormesby and Caister.

But officers at Great Yarmouth Borough Council on Wednesday evening agreed that the scheme was acceptable on balance.

At a meeting of the authority’s planning committee on Wednesday, October 5, an officer said: “It’s new housing in an area we wouldn’t necessarily encourage it, but it does tidy the site up and make a beneficial use of brownfield land.”

Conservative councillor Geoff Freeman said he was glad the pub building itself would not be demolished, despite not returning to use as a pub.

Geoff Freeman pictured when he was standing down as chairman of Ormesby with Scratby Parish Council after 17 years. Pictured outside All Saints Parish Hall in Scratby,one of his proudest achievements was getting the hall built. Picture: James Bass

“We had four people trying to buy this pub, to rebuild it, put in a proper beer garden, put in a restaurant and make it a lovely family pub again.”

He expressed his regret that those bids had failed, but said he was glad that the “ping pong game” of different proposals for the site would finally be ending.

His party colleague Emma Flaxman-Taylor said: “Obviously it is disappointing that we’re losing a public house, but we are where we are with that.

“I pass the site three or four times a week, when I’m on my way to Martham, and I’ve seen it become more derelict every time.

“For something that was the life and soul of the community… something does need to be done and it does need to change.

Permission for the project was granted with the unanimous support of councillors.

Several conditions were attached however, including a requirement for the pub extensions to be removed before any building work takes place and for the new homes to only be occupied when the former pub has been converted and made available for residents.