Owner of 400-year-old Stourbridge hotel granted permission to rectify unauthorised changes
Unauthorised alterations to 17th-century hotel were carried out by previous owner, planners told
Planning permission has been granted for a series of changes to a 400-year-old listed hotel, after a raft of unauthorised alterations were discovered.
The Express & Star revealed last month how the Talbot Hotel in Stourbridge had been subject to a number of alterations which had been carried out in contravention of planning law.
Owner Zora Hotel Investments Ltd said most of these changes had been carried out by a previous owner and that it wanted to “regularise” some of the alterations, and correct those deemed unacceptable.
Conservation consultant Carl Jukes, acting on behalf of the company, said rooms at the hotel in High Street had been unlawfully divided to create extra bedrooms, and plastic casement windows were installed with consent.
He said “the vast majority” of these changes took place when the hotel was owned by Westbourne Leisure, which sold the property in 2023.
Mr Jukes is acting on behalf of the Talbot’s present owner, Zora Hotel Investments Ltd, which is seeking to “regularise” some of the changes, and correct those which are deemed unacceptable.
The Talbot, previously known as the Brick House, was built circa 1627 and from about 1930 it was the home to industrialist Richard Foley. By 1685 it had been operating as an inn.
The building was granted Grade II listed status in 1949.
Mr Jukes said: “Westbourne Leisure carried out a number of alterations to the property without the necessary consents, accordingly, those alterations are deemed to be unauthorised works, identified and confirmed following a site visit by Jayne Pilkington, of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council in June/July 2025.”
He said following Mrs Pilkington’s visit, the unauthorised works were divided into two categories, those which would be deemed acceptable with planning permission, and those which were unlikely to be granted permission, and needed to be returned to their original state and layout.
Zora has now submitted a revised listed building application, which Mr Jukes said would address all the unauthorised works, either asking for them to be formally recognised or to reinstate the hotel to its previous state.
“The works carried out form four components, the subdivision of rooms to form bedrooms, conversion of former rooms to bedrooms, inserting en-suites to new bedrooms and the removal of historic timber windows, replaced with UPVC.”
His report called for all UPVC windows to be replaced with the appropriate style of timber windows, the replacement of some inappropriate doors to rooms. He called for the removal of several bedrooms and the toilets on the ground floor, creating a seating and dining area for the Hunter's Bar.
Two staircases would be removed, one on the ground floor of the south wing, and another on the first floor by the banqueting suite, while the gents’ toilets on the first floor would also be removed, and replaced by new toilets in a converted storeroom in the south wing. A wall separating rooms 120 and 121 would be removed, creating a single family bedroom.
A planning officer’s report said the changes had adversely affected the historic fabric of the building, but said the works proposed by the new owner would go some way to mitigating the harm.
It welcomed replacing the UPVC windows with wooden ones, although it noted that the applicant had given no details about their design.
Assistant director of planning Gemma Meaton approved the alterations, subject to conditions.
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