Mystery surrounds a plan to demolish a restaurant that has recently been brought back to life so it can be replaced with homes.
Mystery surrounds a plan to demolish a restaurant that was recently brought back to life so it can be replaced with homes.
The Loch Fyne between Ascot and Windsor closed in May 2023. The seafood brand was owned by brewing company Greene King, which shut all but one of its sites in November that year.
After two years empty, the building reopened as The Duchy on Saturday 29 November 2025. Managers posted on Facebook that they were “delighted” to open, with pictures of the menu, the hireable conservatory and an OpenTable booking link.
Despite that, a planning application has been lodged to replace the building with three homes — one three-bed and two four-bed houses — in an application to Bracknell Forest Council.
The Duchy sits on Windsor Road in the Winkfield & Warfield East area. The current building dates from the 1950s and was The Crispin pub before Loch Fyne moved in.
An agent from Solve Planning said: “The proposals will bring forward a modern, high-quality and sustainable development of three new homes on a vacant brownfield site within the Green Belt. The development brings the site back into use and provides much-needed residential accommodation at a time when the council cannot demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.”
Each home would be two storeys tall with a roof and would provide three car parking spaces for future occupants.
Applicant Western Avenue Property submitted the first planning document on 11 December 2025; the planning statement was uploaded on 12 December 2025, after The Duchy had opened.
A manager at The Duchy said the matter is being handled by the Project Cornwall Group. The group runs five venues in Cornwall, along with The Duchy and the George & Dragon in West Wycombe, which its website says is under new management.
The application (reference 25/00778/FUL) is currently subject to a statutory consultation. The deadline for comments closes on Friday 30 January. You can view the application and submit a comment via Bracknell Forest Council's planning portal using that reference.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
