Plan for Bognor pub to be turned into flats

The planned change of use for the White Horse has been sent to Arun District Council for a decision.

Brooks Brothers want to turn the Chichester Road building into 19 student rooms because they believe it has no future as a pub.

The rooms of at least 10sqm each will be arranged in four clusters with private kitchen and bathroom facilities.

The Brooks Brothers’ agent, HJ Concepts, says in a statement its location made it ideal for students.

“The current owners of the site purchased the empty property in June 2010. The first tenant started operating the premises in August 2010 but, very shortly after taking over the lease, started to struggle to make the licensed premises pay its way as a going concern.

“A rent-free period was then offered to the tenants but this was still not sufficient to enable the tenant to make the premises profitable.

“As a result, by June 2011 the premises was empty again and left in a deplorable state. In July 2011, the current tenant took a short lease on the premises with a further rent-free period.”

The current tenant had more recently been given a short-term lease but the rental received was barely enough to cover the owners’ financial commitments.

This led to fears about the long-term future of the building as a pub, the statement added.