A plan for a new hotel in the heart of Reading town centre has officially been approved.
The project involves creating 14 ensuite apartment-hotel rooms at a building in Friar Street, which is currently occupied by the ‘Friars Convenience Store’.
The first and second floors of the building are used as storage space for the shop.
Now the development company Arun Serviced Apartments has won permission to add a five-storey rear extension to create space for apartment-hotel rooms.
The hireable rooms will be operated similarly to the Airbnb model, providing home-like amenities such as a small kitchen area, which are not typical in hotels.
The project was assessed by Matt Burns, Reading Borough Council’s principal planning officer, who mentioned that the building was previously a pub.
Reports state that it was called The Traveller’s Friend, which was closed in the 1990s, with the building being used as a shop ever since.
Mr Burns wrote: “The existing building at the site is a non-designated heritage asset with the significance of the building primarily relating to its characterful front elevation and roof plane and former use as a pub.
“The proposals would retain the existing façade and front roof plane, which is welcomed, albeit whilst also proposing significant extensions to the building.
“The proposed extensions whilst considered to be sympathetically designed and suitably subservient additions, do ultimately detract from the significance of the non-designated heritage asset as a result of their scale, contemporary appearance and how the building is viewed from Friar Street, albeit the harm identified is at a low level given the principal features of the building’s significance are to be retained as part of the development.
“The public benefits of the proposals identified include provision of an appropriate town centre apart-hotel use and retention of a class E shop unit and active frontage within a designated primary frontage, within a sustainable location,as well as creation of a small number of associated jobs at both construction and end user phase.”
Additionally, Mr Burns mentioned that the development would create biodiversity net gain by creating green roofs and planting at a first-floor deck amenity area and rear balconies.
The project was approved by the council on January 28.
It was previously understood that the plan was approved at some point in 2024.
Arun Serviced Apartments recently entered into a section 106 legal agreement with the council defining how much the company will pay in developer contributions, which was agreed on January 19.
You can view the documents that are available by typing reference PL/23/1266 into the planning portal.
