'Dilapidated' former Hartlepool pub The Hourglass is to be finally bulldozed

Proposals had previously been submitted to Hartlepool Borough Council planning department looking to secure permission to knock down The Hourglass pub, in Eaglesfield Road.

The site has been hit with numerous fires in recent years since it became vacant in 2019, which led to councillors calling for urgent action to make the site safe to protect residents.

Plans from M and A Holding stated the building is in a “dilapidated state” due to previous fires and the continued use as a public house was “not viable”.

A report from council planning officers has confirmed the demolition proposals have been approved, subject to routine conditions being met.

It said: “It is understood that the derelict appearance of the building and wider site has been a matter that has involved separate legal processes in an attempt to address the untidy and potentially unsafe environment.

“It is considered that the maintenance and protection of the existing facility would neither be appropriate nor practicable and the proposed loss of the community facility is considered acceptable in this instance.

“At this stage the clearance of the site is considered to offer benefit to the area by removing the unsightly appearance of the dilapidated building.”

A separate “permission in principle” application has also been approved, seeking to provide five new bungalows on the pub site.

Those proposals have been scaled back since first being submitted, with initial documents stating nine of the properties would be provided.

A more detailed application must first come forward before those work commence however.

According to planning documents the pub closed in 2019, and the vacant site was hit by fires in September 2021, April 2022 and May 2022, which left the building “not functional as a public house”.

A method statement outlines how working hours for the proposed demolition would be between 8am and 4.30pm Monday to Friday to minimise disturbance to residents.

The area will be surrounded by secure fencing during the process, which will be carried out by operatives “knowledgeable and experienced in work of this nature”.

A statement from Avalon Town Planning said demolishing the pub and building bungalows in its place would “improve the appearance of a currently run-down site” and the area as a whole.