By Monk
The future of the pub where Black Sabbath played their first ever gig still hangs in the balance, despite what many campaigners see as a potentially landmark planning decision which threw it an apparent lifeline.
Earlier this week, Birmingham City Council rejected proposals by Tokoyo Inns, owners of The Crown on the city’s Station Street, to extend planning permission for the use of adjoining land as a car park for a further three years. Campaigners to save the historic building, and other surrounding premises, have now said that it is “put up or shut up” time for the developer.
Tokoyo Inns previously had announced proposals for the redevelopment of the car park site into a 300 bedroom hotel, with the restoration of Grade II listed The Crown as part of the plan, with the company describing the pub as “a historically important site”, adding that “its new vision will reflect and celebrate this heritage”. However, it is our understanding that no formal proposals, or planning application, has been submitted to the authorities.
However, the application to extend permission for the use of the adjoining car park for another three years indicates that the Japan-based hotel chain’s plans are very much on the long finger, and its refusal is not all a silver lining for the future of The Crown.
While campaigners to save the building argue that the granting of permission would allow the developers to “just twiddle their thumbs for another three years”, the rejection of the application could have the same effect, as it leaves the developer with two options: to continue to operate without permission and risk facing a nominal fine (which as a multinational company would be loose change), or leave the land as a vacant site. Neither of these would have a beneficial effect on the fabric of The Crown, which has lain vacant for nearly a decade, and therefore continue to deteriorate without remedial action.
I know this. I worked for Belfast City Council for 20 years. I worked for their planning office for the last five years of my career there. I saw so many similar applications allowed to sit in limbo, with the result that the historic buildings declined to such a rotten state that demolition became the only option. On only one occasion was the developer forced to take remedial action to save the building.
However, campaigners remain defiant that the venue can be saved. The #SaveStationStreet campaign posted in the wake of the planning decision:
[It’s] time for Toyoko Inns to put forward proper refurbishment plans for The Crown as a pub and music venue right now or sell up.
For what it’s worth – we don’t ultimately care who owns the site… if it is run with integrity, for Brummies and with respect to its legacy as one of the UK’s most progressive and historic venues.
In the wake of Ozzy Osbourne’s death, a number of co-operative ventures interested in taking over The Crown and restoring it as a live venue have been launched, so clearly this is going to be an ongoing story…