A plan has been submitted to replace the long-closed Battle Inn pub in Reading with flats and a shop. The former pub sits at the junction of Bedford Road and Oxford Road, within walking distance of the town centre, and has been boarded up since 2015.
Over the years it traded as the Battle Inn, 'Gospoda' (a Polish pub), an Afro‑Caribbean bar and more recently as The Royal from 2013 to 2015. The building also features Nathan Bowen's 'Demon Headz' street art on the side.
The new proposal is for a five-storey building with four one‑bed and two two‑bed flats plus a retail unit. Justifying the project, a planning agent wrote: "The aim of the design is to deliver a high-quality building appropriate to a prominent corner site, and respond positively to the varied townscape character.
"It will also create a building that successfully turns the corner between Oxford Road and Bedford Road, optimise the use of a constrained urban site; preserve the setting of nearby heritage assets; and provide good quality residential accommodation with acceptable environmental living conditions."
A similar plan for six flats was submitted in 2018. That application was refused by officers as an overdevelopment, but the decision was overturned on appeal to the planning inspectorate.
Then-councillor Tony Page said: "It was the Battle Inn for many years, serving a very respectable pint. Unlike many pubs in the area, this was a genuine loss."
Cllr John Ennis (Lab, Southcote) added: "We have to send a message to any would-be developers: great to have you, but we need affordable housing, and therefore we have to be strong on this."
The applicant, Anrish Properties, will pay the council for affordable housing elsewhere in the borough. View the application using reference PL/26/0237 on Reading Borough Council's planning portal.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
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