The conversion of a historic pub into a mosque is set to be blocked because it would cause “substantial harm” to a “heritage asset”.
The Grade II-listed Gatehouse pub, which dates back to 1934, was set to be renovated by the Norwich Muslim Centre under plans submitted to the council.
Under the plans, the group applied to change the use of property’s extension from a community centre into a place of worship.
Hundreds of locals complained after the proposal showed the pub’s extension would be large, copper-coloured, and covered in screens and Arabic lettering.
A new report from the Norwich City Council’s conservation and design team has criticised the proposals as likely to cause “substantial harm to its significance, through the construction of a large rear block which is inappropriate for the heritage asset in question through its design, scale and massing”, the Mail revealed last night.
Though despite local outrage, Sirajul Irlsam, a trustee of the centre, said the site would not exclusively be for Muslims and could be used by the wider community.
“So far, I have come across only three people who told me that they used to visit the pub on a regular basis when it was open and operating as a pub,” he added.
“This did make me wonder where all those objections and concerns are coming from.”
The boozer closed its doors three years ago after the death of its landlord.
The pub, which survived two attacks during the Second World War, has been considered a “asset of community value” by Norwich City Council.
The report from the council’s team suggested there was no “convincing evidence or justification” for the building to change use.
Last year, the Gatehouse Community Hub group failed in its bid to purchase the pub – a public house has been on the site since 1866.
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It was described as a “superb example of an inter-war improved public house designed by Norwich architects Buckingham and Berry and Norwich builders RG Carter”.
Two of the four historic public houses in the town have since turned into a tattoo parlour and private dwelling, leaving the building as one of two examples of East Anglian style by the architects.
It also noted the renovation was a “highly modern addition”.
“The proposals do not enhance the existing building and create a great impact upon the significance of the Grade II-listed Gatehouse and its setting,” it read.
“The construction of the new prayer hall block offers a degree of harm to the significance of the heritage asset and its setting.
“This is judged to be substantial harm.”
The Norwich Muslim Centre filed two connected planning applications to the local authority.
One application has received 347 objections and 201 supporting letters, while the other received 194 objections and 213 supporting.
The report did not that while there was some amount of “public benefit” in re-using the property, there was not convincing evidence that “the building cannot be re-used in its current form, or that alternative proposals causing minimal harm could not enable its viable reuse”.
Norwich City Council has yet to make a decision on the application.
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