A plan to transform a historic building and café into a new hotel in the heart of Reading town centre has been put on hold.
A project had emerged to demolish the rear of 7 Blagrave Street and construct a five-storey extension containing 18 hotel rooms in its place.
The scheme would have retained the stylish façade of the building, the current bed and breakfast business and facilities for the Coffee Under Pressure (CUP) café, which opened its second branch there in August 2018.
The new extensions would have featured a 'living' green wall to add an ecological benefit to the development.
READ MORE: Plan could see café and B&B building transformed into hotel
Justifying the project, an agent from ET Planning said: "Rear elements of the building, which are of little heritage value, and the retention of the ornate street frontage which overwhelmingly embodies the principal significance of the building.
"It is considered the proposed development ensures that high-quality bed and breakfast accommodation and a café is retained in an important location for visitors without adverse effect on the character of the area or the amenity of neighbouring residents."
However, the project was withdrawn months after it was submitted.
You can inspect the shelved application by typing reference PL/23/0328 into the council's planning portal.
The cafe at the building was previously occupied by the La Baguette café prior to CUP occupying the ground floor unit.
It is understood that the people in charge of the baguette business own the building, as the applicant for the recently shelved plan for new hotel rooms was named only as 'La Baguette Ltd'.
The website La Baguette takes visitors to the 'Blagrave Rooms' webpage providing single and double en suites and twin beds.
A previous plan to demolish the rear of the building and construct 23 hotel rooms was refused in May 2016.
At the time, it was judged the project would cause substantial harm to the character and appearance of the existing building, the street scene along Blagrave Street and the wider area.
While the building itself is not listed, it has been identified as being of 'Townscape Merit' owing to its neo-classical façade.
It is located in the Market Place Conservation Area, and situated opposite Reading Town Hall Grade II listed, which was built in the late 1800s.
READ MORE: Changes to project at busy corner in Reading town centre approved
The earlier plan, application reference PL/15/1345 was recommended for refusal by Jonathan Markwell and officially rejected by the assistant director of planning in 2016.
The developer appealed against the refusal to the government's planning inspectorate, but this appeal was dismissed in February 2017.
The appointed planning inspector Hayden Baugh-Jones ruled that the project would result in harm to existing neighbours and judged that some of the new rooms would provide 'poor living conditions' during stays, due to a lack of daylight and noise disturbance.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here