The site of a pub which was dogged with anti-social behaviour issues before being demolished has been sold for redevelopment. The Open Hearth pub on Hendre Farm Drive in Newport was once popular in the Ringland area of the city but closed in early 2020.
The pub fell into disrepair in the months after and was beset with issues including fires, anti-social behaviour and fly tipping. At one point fire crews were called to the abandoned bar three times in the space of a week.
After numerous complaints from residents over the state of the site, Newport City Council issued a notice to the leaseholder asking for improvements to the land. The building was later demolished in 2021 but the site has remained empty since.
Read more: The Newport pub that has gone from a community favourite to a burnt-out shell in just a few months
But the leaseholder of the land, Dewmax Ltd, has now agreed a deal with Newport City Council, which owns most of the site, to sell the site to Melin Homes with plans to build affordable housing. A council report says the freehold for the land with the old pub car park and land between Hendre Farm Drive and the Southern Distributor Road will be sold by the council for £140,000 to Dewmax, which has agreed in turn to sell it to Melin Homes. The housing association has proposed to build 32 affordable homes on the site, subject to planning permission.
The report, which saw cabinet member Laura Lacey sign off on the sale, said the pub had been heavily vandalised since closing and "presents a nuisance to the local community", and that its sale represented value for money as well as serving Newport's need for affordable housing. It added: "In order to ensure that the sold land is used for housing development, then the contracts for sale will be conditional upon the owners entering into a binding contract for a sub-sale with Melin Homes.”
The sale of the site comes as Ringland - one of Newport's most deprived areas - undergoes a £24m redevelopment which includes the demolition of its existing shopping centre, a new shopping complex, homes and a state-of-the-art health centre. Work is underway on the initial phase of the work, which has seen another shuttered pub, the Friendship Inn, demolished. You can read more about the redevelopment of Ringland here and subscribe to our daily Newport newsletters here.
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