Plans submitted at Devonport Hotel near Darlington

Plans have been submitted on behalf of the owners of The Devonport Hotel in Middleton One Row, near Darlington for the conversion of disused hotel space into seven, one and two-bedroom homes.

The 18th century hotel, which was taken over by Jonathan Hall and Marcus Bennett almost two years ago, was converted from 21 bedrooms to just eight after it previously failed to reach full occupancy under old owners.

Mr Hall and Mr Bennett then spent around £1.2m refurbishing the Devonport venue into a traditional pub, space for private dining, and just a handful of guest bedrooms.

Mr Hall said: “It was never a fully-occupied hotel, the reason it failed was because it was too big here, there wasn’t the demand for it – they were trying to fill it and rooms were £20 a night.

The refurbished guest bedrooms

“We took it over and spent £1.2m refurbishing two thirds of it, making it into an eight-bedroom hotel – with rooms that are corporate but appeal to everyone.”

Updated proposals, which would see part of the site's unused Oxford House turned into the mix of ‘self-contained’ apartments, were received by Darlington Council before new year.

Confirming the hotel was doing well as an eight-bedroom hotel and there were no plans to close, Mr Hall said: “We thought of this, rather than to make it into a 20-bedroom hotel again where the extra investment work would have been a fortune.”

Mr Hall went on to say the decision to make use of the “redundant” space would mean the village hotel remained profitable.

He said: “We currently have 25 staff, we have four senior managers, three cleaning staff and the rest are eight full time staff, the hotel is trading well.

“The hotel is trading at good capacity but listening to feedback and rather than doing another eight hotel rooms we decided the new flats would be more profitable for us.

"We are selling fabulous bedrooms at £80 a night including breakfast and it is trading very well with a team of 25 staff."

But not everyone is convinced, one neighbour claimed she would be impacted by noise, loss of privacy as the flats may 'overlook' beyond her private wall and the village’s roads would not be able to cope.

Lodging an objection, the resident said: “We have examined the plans and we know the site well.

"We live and own number 14 The Front, which will be significantly impacted by the proposed development.”

The resident has since written to the case officer, Emma Williams who is dealing with the plans.