The empty Robin Hood pub in Church Street could soon have a new lease of life – as a boarding house for international students.
Developer JPK Design has submitted two planning applications for the pub, one of which is to convert the building into a boarding house for St Dominic’s Priory School, with space for 17 students and two members of staff. The other application is to convert the building into apartments.
St Dominic’s is fairly advanced in its development of Field House on Station Road as a boarding house, with pupils to be accepted from 2013. The school says it has a gentleman’s agreement with the developer that St Dom’s has first option to request development into a boarding house if the planning application is successful.
You can see both planning applications here.
Chair of governors Michael Hughes said they are assessing current demand for Field House before committing to converting the Robin Hood. If demand from potential boarding pupils to come to St Dom’s and lodge at Field House is strong then the Governors will likely ask the developer to convert to a boarding house. This is currently being assessed on the back of a successful trip by the headteacher to Hong Kong and a whole host of correspondence with education agents in a number of other countries, including Russia, Spain and Mexico.
Mrs Pat Adamson, headteacher of St Dominic’s, said: “We are progressing very well with the conversion of Field House on Station Road into an 18-bed boarding house, with this building expected to receive pupils in early 2013. We have worked with the developer who owns the Robin Hood pub to prepare plans for a further boarding house should pupil and parent demand suggest that it would be beneficial for the school to operate a second boarding house at this time – a decision the Governors and I will make hopefully by the end of this year. If the school doesn’t ask the developer to convert to a boarding house it is our understanding that he will convert into a number of high quality apartments.
“Nonetheless, we believe that by having a right of first refusal with the developer, St Dominic’s is again demonstrating its ambition and a vision to retain its place as one of the best schools in the country.”
The Robin Hood has been empty for well over a year now and was recently subject to an arson attack. More information here.
