Closed Hartlepool hotel set for new lease of life with restaurant, bar and rooms

Plans have been lodged to refurbish a former public house and transform it into a 15-bed hotel with bar and restaurant.
The Alma Hotel buildingThe Alma Hotel building
The Alma Hotel building

The proposals have been submitted to Hartlepool Borough Council planning department for The Alma Hotel site in Whitby Street.

The venue, which had been later renamed ‘The New Alma’, has been closed for several years.

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The building was modernised in the early 1960s with a new front, when it was a licensed premises with rooms to let on the second floor.

The Alma Hotel buildingThe Alma Hotel building
The Alma Hotel building

Planning documents from ASP Associates, on behalf of applicant Mr Malik, state the business would create regular employment for ‘up to 20 part-time workers’ at the hotel and restaurant, along with jobs carrying out the refurbishment.

A design and access statement said: “The development proposals are to maintain the present status of a licensed premises hotel providing a large lounge and restaurant area at ground floor.

“It is very early stages and we are only submitting proposals for planning consideration for upgrading and conversion of the property into a residential licensed hotel.

“The property is desperately in need of improvements.

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“If planning permission is granted to reinstate it back to its former residential licensed hotel status it will provide regular employment upon completion and running as a new hotel.

“The property would provide much-needed jobs in renovating the premises.

“In summary, this is a fairly simple development that would not be out of place or overwhelming to the surrounding area and neighbouring sites/activities.”

The plans would see 15 self-contained bedrooms all with en-suite facilities offered over the first and second floor of the building.

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The bulk of the work would be internal modifications according to the applicant, adding they would want to maintain a similar external look but ‘renew and upgrade its appearance, prolonging its life expectancy’.

The plans note there is public car parking directly across the road for up to fifty cars serving the whole of the commercial properties in the Church Street area.

The site also lies within the Church Street Conservation Area, which aims to protect the frontages of buildings.

A decision is expected to be made on the plans by the council planning department by the end of September.