Plans unveiled to turn a once popular pub near Wigan into a home

It will involve some demolition work and another property will be built nearby too, a planning application reveals.

There was much anger and sadness when the owner of the historic Prince William at Dalton near Wigan decided to shut it down in March 2020 despite campaiging and protests from locals.

It meant that the village was left without any hospitality venues following the earlier closure of the Beacon Inn just down the road.

And since then both former restaurants have deteriorated into eyesores in an otherwise picturesque community with little prospect of their ever being revived.

Now plans have been submitted to recycle the Prince William, parts of which date back to 1640.

Richard Lowe has applied to West Lancashire Council planners to convert and restore the main pub building to form a single home. There is a request to demolish a storage building and large pergola and then build a second home in the area which used to be occupied by the beer garden and a children’s play area, away from Beacon Road.

The matter would be delegated to the Corporate Director of Place and Community for determination unless an elected member requests consideration by the planning committee. There is a deadline of April 26 for any such representations to be made.

Approval would at least rid the area of a big blot on the landscape, although there would doubtless be sadness that the Prince William could never be brought back as a venue.

Fifteen members of staff lost their jobs, including manager Dave Roy, with its closure.

Mr Roy ran the Prince William as the tenant from 2002 to 2011 and returned in June 2017, before handing it to Robinsons Brewery in July 2019 while continuing as manager.

He said he was “devastated” to be told it would shut and was given just two weeks’ notice.

The pub had struggled to make money during the winter of 2019-20 and he said requests to reduce the price of beer were unsuccessful.

He feared for the future of the building if a new owner could not be found and predicted it would become an “ugly eyesore” on top of Ashust Beacon.