Wetherspoons hotel extension plan for Shrewsbury explosion site
Hotel plans have been revealed for the site of a gas explosion that seriously injured five people.
JD Wetherspoon has submitted plans for a 23-bedroom building on the land on the corner of Bridge Street and Smithfield Road in Shrewsbury, which has remained boarded up since the explosion in 2010.
The development would act as an extension its existing grade II listed pub and hotel, which is situated next to the site.
The pub giant confirmed last year it had bought the land back in 2015.
And now a full application for the two-storey development has been submitted to Shropshire Council’s planning department.
If approved, the extension would create five part-time jobs and would see a new beer garden created on the current site of the Wetherspoons car park.
The plan, submitted by agent Julien Karczewski on behalf of Wetherspoons, says: “The proposal intends to provide a separate, new-build wing comprising 23 guest bedrooms to supplement the existing first and second floor hotel accommodation of 22 guest bedrooms.
“The layout aims to re-establish the line of the original, pre-gas explosion façade along Bridge Street and Hill’s Lane in both scale and materials, occupying the same footprint as the earlier buildings.”
Fourteen car parking spaces would be removed if the plans are approved, leaving two spaces for disabled users. The beer garden would also be extended.
Mr Karczewski adds: “The new design will provide customers with a better outdoor seating area to enjoy its riverside location with canopies, fixed seating and planting.
"The layout of the garden is generated by the existing geometry and scale of the site.
“The enlarged beer garden will extend over the existing car park area to provide the customers with an attractive outdoor seating area that includes canopies, fixed seating areas and planting.”
The explosion in the morning of January 3, 2010, left part of Shrewsbury looking like a war zone.
It left 11 people injured, five of them seriously as it tore through 1 to 5 Bridge Street, destroying the buildings, and leaving the occupants either thrown from their homes or trapped under debris.
Emergency services said it was a miracle there were no fatalities.
The application will be considered in the coming months.
