Plan to turn former TV pub and restaurant in Stourbridge into supermarket is blocked by council

Plans to turn a well-known brewery, pub and restaurant into a supermarket have been thrown out by Dudley Council planners, who said it would represent an ‘unjustified loss of a valued community facility’.

A & K Lye Properties had applied to turn the Windsor Castle at Lye Cross into a convenience store.

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The pub, which closed three years ago, was famous for its Peaky Blinder ales and also featured on a television programme starring Oz Clarke and James May.

But visitor numbers fell following the sale of the Sadlers Brewery and the coronavirus, leading to its closure almost three years ago.

Assistant director of regulation Gemma Meaton refused the plans, saying the development would result in the loss of an established pub.

“Insufficient evidence has been submitted to demonstrate that the existing use is no longer viable, that the premises have been appropriately marketed, or that suitable alternative provision exists within the local area.

“As such, the proposal would result in the unjustified loss of a valued community facility.”

She said a proposed canopy, roller shutters and shopfront alterations were inappropriate in what was ‘an area of high historic townscape value’, and questioned whether an ‘out-of-centre’ location was suitable for retail use.

The Windsor Castle opened in 2006 as a taphouse to the Windsor Castle brewery which had been launched two years earlier by John Sadler, who had previously used the building as a printing works.

The brewery quickly picked up awards for its ales, and in 2009 it had a starring role in the television series Oz and James Drink to Britain, where food-and-drink expert Clarke and Top Gear presenter May worked behind the bar.

During the series, the pair toured Britain in a Rolls-Royce taking in the hot spots for the best beer, wine and spirits, learning about how they were made. During the programme, Clarke praised the brewery for its mild ale, which he described as one of the best in the country.

Sadler’s Windsor Castle Brewery saw rapid expansion with the launch of its Peaky Blinder ales, and opened a second brewery outside Lye railway station. It was taken over by Halewood International in 2017, and brewing was transferred to Cumbria in 2020, although the Sadler family continued to run the pub and restaurant until its closure in December 2023.

The planned shop would have occupied the ground-floor bar and restaurant areas only, and did not include the brewery at the rear of the property, or the guest accommodation on the upper floors.

A new shop front had been planned for the Stourbridge Road frontage, creating a new entrance, while a storage area at the Pedmore Road end of the building would be extended.