'Late night drinkers come our home, thinking it's still a pub!': Why Warwick homeowners want to remove old pub sign from home

Removing the pub sign from the former Zetland Arms in Church Street was one part of the application for the property, which also included replacing the front door and some alterations to the bathrooms.

The Grade II property, which is now known as Zetland House was converted into a house after permission was granted in March 2022.

In the 2022 application, it said that the building stopped operating as a pub in January 2020 due to 'the long-standing operator experiencing a significant decline in trade'.

The documents also said the operator behind the pub was also prevented from reopening in July 2020 due to fire risk issues.

According to the planning documents, the property was originally built in the early-mid 19th century as a town house but was then used as a pub and hotel between the late 1920’s until it closed.

The owners of the home submitted the planning application due to the replica pub sign on the outside of the building ‘causing a nuisance’.

In the planning documents it said: “Following the conversion of the building from the public house ‘The Zetland Arms’ back into a single dwelling residence in 2022, the modern metal bracket was retained on the frontage and a newly painted signboard was installed to replace the pub sign.

"This new sign is designed on the previous pub sign and includes a coat of arms, the house number 11 and a new name ‘Zetland House’.

“Since buying the house in 2022, the new owners have experienced regular disturbances from members of the public, particularly late at night, who are misled into believing that the house is still being used as a pub.

"This issue is compounded by the retention of the signboard but also because the pub is still listed on various online rating websites, and other places online.

“To mitigate these disturbances, the new owners have approached some organisations to remove the pub from their content.

"However, the most impactful action to reduce the disturbance would be to remove the redundant signboard and bracket from the front elevation.”

The owners had also proposed to add a green ‘heritage plaque’ to record the history of the building.

Seven comments had also been received in support of the plans.

The plans were given the go ahead by Warwick District Council via a delegated decision.

This included the removal of the sign and the other proposed work.

In the decision report it was said that the ‘heritage plaque’ part was removed from the application due to concerns about “visual clutter”, confusion with blue plaques and technology use in the future.

In the council’s decision regarding the sign it said: “The removal of the bracket and hanging sign will not result in the loss of a historic feature and will ensure that the building is legible as a residence rather than public house.

"The impact on the listed building and the wider conservation area is considered to be neutral.”

To view the plans search W/24/1407/LB on the planning portal.