A planning application has been submitted to convert the former Leaf restaurant in West Kirby into a retail unit, along with the construction of five properties on the site.
Leaf closed at the start of the year, with owner Natalie Heywood telling West Kirby Today that she couldn’t see a way back for the venue, partly due to an increase in the national minimum wage. A letting agent listing for the site stated the annual rent was almost £85,000 per year.
Now an application by Beck Homes submitted to the council requests a change of use for the building, along with external alterations, amended access and parking, and the construction of five properties with parking and landscaping.
A planning and heritage statement submitted with the application states: “It is proposed that the northern and western parts of the site will accommodate five dwellings, utilising the surplus car parking and former beer garden.
“The proposed dwellings will comprise a detached two-storey dwelling fronting Black Horse Hill, two bungalow-style properties and a pair of semi-detached dwellings.
“Each property will be provided with dedicated car parking and generous garden spaces. New landscaping will be introduced to the residential access road and to the boundary between the access road and the car park to
the convenience store.”
An artists impression of how the building will look after the work
In relation to the retail unit, it adds: “The proposed convenience store would be a modern, top-up food shopping facility to meet the day-to-day needs of residents within this part of West Kirby. It will provide sales floorspace of approximately 230 sq. m for the sale of a range of chilled and ambient foodstuffs with some fresh fruit and vegetables and frozen foods.
“A range of food-on-the-go, beverages and household essentials would also be sold. Given the size and nature of the convenience store, the range of food and beverages available will be more limited than in larger foodstores and the sale of ancillary non-food items will be de minimis.”
If approved, it would mark the end of an era for the building dating back at least 200 years. According to the CAMRA website, the first record of a pub on the site was in 1822 when it was known as the Chesnut Horse.
Later in the 1800s it was renamed the Bay Horse, and later the Black Horse. In the 2000s it was subject to a huge refit and was known as The Collingwood, before briefly becoming The Hilltop.
Celebrity chef Simon Rimmer took it over in 2016 and renamed it The Viking, before it shut and was taken over by Leaf in 2020.
As part of the work, the side extension where the toilets are located would be removed to make way for a new entrance for the shop.
The application states: “The significance of the existing building will be preserved by its retention, the introduction of new commercial use that provides an alternative facility for the local community and by delivering new investment which will help to sustain its conservation in the longer term.
“The architectural significance of the building will be preserved and enhanced by the removal of modern additions including the prominent single-storey extension to the side elevation and sympathetic redecoration of the building.”
The documentation also reveals that the site came close to being developed as a retirement living complex, but the bidder withdrew after concluding the pub would need to be demolished and the topography of the site did not lend itself to a large three storey building.
The application can be read at https://online.wirral.gov.uk/planning/index.html?fa=getApplication&id=231984
Photo credits: Urban Agile Planning and Regeneration
