Fate of former Portsmouth pub to be decided next week - and it’s likely to turn into a block of flats

At a planning committee meeting on Wednesday members will consider an application for 12 new homes on the site of the former Mr Pickwick pub in Milton Road, which would need to be demolished.

If given the green-light a mix of one and two-bed flats plus a larger three-bedroom family flat will be built, as well as parking for 13 cars.

The application is a slightly modified version of one submitted last year that was for a three-storey block.

Developers HRP Architects believed the new-build would be a boost for the area. In a statement they said:  'The proximity to services, facilities and to public transport make this a highly sustainable location for new development.'

But nearby residents were unconvinced with six objections, and no supporting comments, sent to the council.

Christine Cox, of Milton Road, said: 'I am horrified to see that yet more flats are planned for this area.

'Not long before the flats adjacent to this site were built we put in for planning permission for our house opposite to be changed into just two flats and were refused. The reason you gave us was that there were too many flats in the area. Now you have agreed to loads of flats on the adjacent site and if you agree to these that is a a lot more than two.

'Also most households have an average of at least two cars. There is little or no parking in this area as it is. There will not be enough for the amount of flats that is proposed.'

Maylands Avenue resident Patricia Tongue added: 'My objections to the current plans are the height of the development and the location of the balconies at the rear.

'I concur with my neighbours that this would have an adverse effect on our privacy as the balconies would look directly into our back gardens. I'm also concerned at the impact the height of this building would have and the amount of light we would lose as a result.'

As per council rules either four of the flats will have to be affordable or the developers will have to pay a fee of £235,000 to the authority.

Mr Pickwick was once a Long’s brewery pub called Cremorne Gardens, which was given its Dickensian name in the mid-1970s, and in 1986 it became Duke’s. Refurbished in 1989, the pub was renamed Mr Pickwick. It closed in 2017.