Council refuses Indian restaurant plans for landmark Willenhall pub that's been vacant for two years
Walsall Council has refused permission to turn a vacant Willenhall pub into an Indian restaurant.
Plans were submitted by Bai Investments Ltd to convert The Bridge Tavern on Bentley Lane in May 2025.
The Short Heath pub, listed as a non-designated heritage asset, closed to the public in 2023.
Walsall Council refused the Indian restaurant plans due to a lack of a coal mining risk assessment, and a noise and odour assessment.
The authority received five letters of objection from members of the public who raised concerns about noise, odour, parking and amenity impact.
Previously, a proposal had been submitted to bring the pub back into use as a convenience store.
Short Heath ward member Councillor Josh Whitehouse launched a petition against the plans which was signed by over 600 people.
The petition said it was the ‘wrong place for another shop’ due to the busy junction.
In June 2024 it was scheduled to be decided at a Walsall Council planning committee, with planning officers recommending a refusal, but the applicant withdrew it just before the meeting.
The following month, the pub was defaced as racist slurs were spray painted onto the front of the building.
The Short Heath councillors were ‘saddened’ by the acts and said racism has ‘no place’ in the ward.
The latest proposals involved a rear ground floor extension, the installation of two new external doors, and the removal of internal walls.
The existing site has 13 car parking spaces to the rear which would have remained the same had the plans been approved.
