A well-known former pub in Southampton is to be converted into a home for six adults who need supported living, after the city council granted planning permission.
The Angel, in Palmerston Road, will become a care home under conditional approval issued by Southampton City Council on 16 September.
The decision comes only months after the same building was given the go-ahead to become an 11-bedroom house in multiple occupation (HMO).
Papers submitted by the applicant, Walter Frank Properties, said a care provider had since shown interest in running the site, prompting the switch from the earlier scheme.
Much of the work already approved will go ahead, including new windows and doors, railings, cycle storage and refuse facilities. The rear garden will serve as outdoor space for residents.
The permission caps the number of residents at six adults, alongside non-resident care and support staff. Before anyone moves in, the council has also demanded an agreed operational management plan covering staffing and shift changes, visitors, taxi and private hire pick-ups and drop-offs, deliveries, refuse collection, emergency access and complaints.
Communal areas, including the lounge, kitchen and dining and living spaces, must be kept and cannot be turned into extra bedrooms.
Built in 1927, the pub is not listed but is regarded as an undesignated heritage asset. Conditions require its façades, roofs, nameplate and frieze to be repaired using traditional materials and workmanship.
The building’s recent history as a pub has been turbulent. It reopened in September 2023, closed soon afterwards, reopened again in June 2024 and shut for good in April 2025. The Campaign for Real Ale records its closure as 1 April 2025. It was subsequently put on the market for £295,000 plus VAT.
Before the care home can be occupied, it must also meet energy and water efficiency requirements and secure nitrate mitigation.
Stroke can increase brain cancer risk, study suggests
