A once popular pub in Plymouth’s Stonehouse looks set to be turned into homes after other uses including a community hub were shelved.
Social enterprise The Millfields Trust which owns The Famous Firkin in Adelaide Place has applied for planning permission and listed building consent from Plymouth City Council to convert the historic property into two family homes.
Formerly called the Adelaide Inn and sitting in a conservation area, the pub had been operating since 1921 but was closed during the covid pandemic by the proprietor at the time and never reopened.
In 2022 it was sold to The Millfields Trust, with a £130,000 loan from Plymouth City Council and registered as a community asset.
But plans to reopen it as a pub and community hub hit problems due to skyrocketing costs and the building has been slowly deteriorating.
The trust, which has since paid back the loan to the council, said this week it had “explored a range of potential community, commercial and employment uses but none have proved financially viable given the building’s condition, the level of investment required to make it compliant, and the constraints associated with its listed status”.
Independent surveys had confirmed ongoing deterioration, including water ingress and internal structural issues.
The Famous Firkin in Stonehouse(Image: Alison Stephenson)
“Without intervention, further decline is likely.” it said. “The Board therefore agreed that progressing to planning consent for conversion to two homes is the most practical way to secure a sustainable long-term use.”
Millfields added it may develop the homes itself, partner with another organisation or dispose of the site with planning in place.
This flexibility of options ”would ensure the building is brought back into active use rather than remaining vacant.”
But local resident William Phillips, who has lived in nearby Adelaide Street for 14 years, said he was disappointed that it would not be a community hub as homes would “not improve the soul of Stonehouse ”.
“It would have served a purpose during the day as a lot of people are lonely during the day and can get out because it is daylight. I understand there was also going to be mother and baby groups and other things. In the evenings it was going to be a traditional pub.”
He doubted that the homes would be something local people could afford: “They will be up for sale because they will have to recoup the money somehow. The majority of my street now are new people, they are lovely people and I have wonderful neighbours but it would be nice if the locals got a look in sometime, not everybody can afford to buy.
“This is a lovely old building and with a bit of TLC could be a focal point again. If it is houses, it is nothing, it will look tidier to walk past but won’t improve the soul of Stonehouse at all and that is what we need.”
Planning documents to Plymouth City Council say The Famous Firkin has significant cracks in the masonry and leaning and poorly constructed walls had rendered the building “unsafe and unfit for use”.
In addition to the structural issues, poor-quality additions such as uPVC cladding and unsympathetic windows had “marred the façade”, detracting from the character and appearance of the conservation area which comprises of a block of early 19th century residential properties designed by architect and town planner John Foulston.
Important historical features such as the round-arched window opening and external mouldings had been removed leaving a stark north elevation that clashed with the other properties.
The proposed works will replace the roof and leaning chimneys to prevent damp encroaching into the building, the external walls repaired and conserved and windows and cladding replaced. The yard will be reinstated at the rear of the property. Inside there was nothing of historical value so this would be suitably renovated, said documents.
The Adelaide Street/ Clarence Place Conservation Area.(Image: Core Compliance)
The Millfields Trust is focused on helping to regenerate the Stonehouse neighbourhood. It says the proposal will strengthen the community by providing “affordable housing” for young local families to grow.
When it bought the pub in 2022 it said Stonehouse had seen a huge loss of public houses, with many traditional pubs going out of business. Where there were once over 100 pubs in the area, this number dwindled to 30 in the 1990s and now there are just eight – one of which was The Famous Firkin.
The pub was once an important part of the fabric of the community, bringing people together and making this corner of Stonehouse a better place to live, it said.
Former Millfields CEO Roger Pipe said at the time: “Our vision is quite simply to make The Famous Firkin a thriving local once more. An open and friendly establishment which welcomes mums and dads for coffee on the way back from the school run, lunches for the residents of Ron King House and others nearby, a home for the knitters, the sewers, the euchre group, the darts, and pool teams and runs bingo and karaoke events.”
Plymouth City Council will decide on the planning application at a future date.
