Battle Inn Set for Demolition and Redevelopment

A long-closed Reading pub is set to be torn down and replaced by flats and new commercial space.

The Battle Inn sits on the corner of Oxford Road and Bedford Road, a busy turn in the town centre.

It has been unused for more than a decade; its last run as "The Royal" ended in 2015.

Earlier this year a plan was submitted to replace the building with six self-contained flats and commercial space. The application was decided at Reading Borough Council's planning committee.

Evelyn Williams, chair of the Reading Conservation Area Advisory Committee, objected. "As Reading CAAC sees it, the buildings and public realm are looking better than they did in 2020."

She added: "The proposed demolition of The Battle Inn and redevelopment does not do enough to match expectations as set out in the Local Plan and improvements in the area around it."

Williams said the existing building should be expanded and sympathetically improved rather than demolished. "We've often asked for this in relation to public houses, it's a key corner site, but apart from not demolishing the pub, if you look at what's been proposed, there is an awful lot that is not known at this point, we'd have liked to have seen a lot more in terms of the brickwork and the facade."

Architect Chris Keen pushed back, saying the pub had been degraded and was past its useful life. "It may well have the features of a Victorian building but it's gone past its useful life in my opinion."

Cllr James Moore noted the Nag's Head is within "staggering" distance, so losing the Battle Inn may have less impact. Matt Yeo, the council's housing lead, backed the scheme, saying it would reactivate the site and that the closed pub currently attracts anti-social behaviour.

The committee approved the project, subject to the applicant, Anrish Properties, entering into a legal agreement with the council.

View the application on the council planning portal using reference PL/26/0237.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter