A much-loved old village pub in the Gower looks destined to become the site of nine new houses after a fresh bid was lodged to carry out the transformation. A pre-application inquiry has been submitted to Swansea Council by Chris Purnell, of Cilibion, who is asking its planning department to consider a scheme to transform the former Greyhound Inn into five four-bed detached houses, and four two-bed semi-detached houses.
Based in Oldwalls, Llanrhidian, the pub had been a successful venture, but trade dropped and it was put up for sale for £1.1 million. It has since become an eyesore. A demolition and housing scheme lodged by Chris Stevens was given the go-ahead back in 2018, but in 2021, the council rejected an application to modify the terms of a section 106 agreement related to the four affordable housing units planned as part of the scheme. A section 106 agreement is made between a developer and a local planning authority about measures that the developer must take to reduce their impact on the local community.
Refusing the bid, head of planning and city regeneration Phil Holmes wrote that the applicant had failed to demonstrate that the proposed development would be financially unviable with the existing 106 agreement and changing it would "in turn result in no social rented affordable dwellings being delivered within the proposed development, contrary to Policy H3 of the Swansea Local Development Plan." Get Swansea stories straight to your inbox with our newsletter.
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It now appears Mr Purnell is hoping to develop the site.
The 19th century Victorian pub once served Gower Brewery ales from its own microbrewery, plus regionally sourced food. There was also an extensive home-cooked bar menu served every day, with lunch on Sundays popular. Outside, at the rear, was a large beer garden with a children's play area and wonderful views over the Gower countryside. You can read more stories about Gower here.
The venue used to host the Great Gower Beer festival in June while the restaurant was once very popular, with 624 reviews on TripAdvisor rating it as 4.5 out of 5 on average.
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