A project to replace the Beefeater steak restaurant at the Premier Inn, Reading Gateway, has finished. The Beefeater closed in July 2024 and the space has been reworked into a changed restaurant area and nine hotel rooms as part of Whitbread's move to a focused hotels model. The scheme, first approved in December 2024, created seven bedrooms and two 'non model' bedrooms; building regulation compliance was approved on 2 April (PL/26/0325).
A separate application to convert the Eaton Court benefits assessment centre into 52 flats in Oxford Road has been refused. The building owner had already had a different conversion approved (40 one-bed and 12 two-bed flats under PL/25/1025 last September) and because work on that approved project has started, the developer can no longer gain prior approval for the new designs (PL/26/0171).
A proposal for a digital advertising screen outside the BP Londis fuel station on London Road was also rejected. Wildstone Estates wanted a 2.4m x 1.23m LED screen with adverts changing every 10 seconds, near the station exit, but planning officer Anthony Scoles warned it could distract drivers and cited Crash Map data showing six slight collisions and two serious crashes. The plan was refused on 7 April (PL/26/0147).
At Reading Retail Park, four trees have been planted as a planning condition for the new Lidl, which opened at the end of February. Submitted photos show four pits with trees installed (PL/26/0263).
You can view each decided application by typing the reference in brackets into the council's planning portal.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
