Bell Tower Community Association

The company Bowl Central is planning to take over the former Dawsons music shop at 65 Caversham Road, which closed last year, and convert it into a bowling alley and family entertainment complex. The facility would have seven bowling lanes, three interactive dart boards, shuffleboards and a children’s ‘redemption’ games area. The plan is to sell food as well, including pizzas, panini and salads.

Ahead of taking over the old Dawsons unit, Bowl Central’s owning company KTO Ltd has submitted a licensing application for the bar that will be located inside. The company has applied to sell alcohol and food and play music on site from 10am to midnight from Sunday to Thursday, and 10am to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Since this article was published we have met the developer, who has offered to amend the licence application to change the closing time to 11pm weekdays and midnight at weekends. Our feeling is that this is a reasonable compromise, and if the application is amended we are happy to withdraw our objections. If you have any views please email us at info@bell-tower.org.uk

Planning application 182252 for 620 flats and townhouses with office and other space on the former Post Office site in Caversham Road has been approved by the council. This is an outline planning application to establish the principle of the development, so there is scope for further negotiation of the details (known as ‘reserved matters’).

David Neale from the Bell Tower Community Association spoke at the council’s planning committee in opposition to the application, expressing concerns about the scale of the development, particularly the 8-storey height proposed along Caversham Road and its impact on the local environment, including on the locally-listed Victorian malthouse that used to be occupied by Drews ironmongers. Concern was also expressed about the high density and lack of green space in the development leading to it being undesirable to live in, and whether the proposed office space was likely to be used.

After some discussion the planning committee eventually voted unanimously to approve the application. One factor that might have influenced this is the developer of the SSE site in Vastern Road recently making a successful appeal against refusal of their application, with councillors perhaps concerned that the owners of the post office site might also successfully appeal against refusal.

(Photo: Hermes Property)

Good news for our area’s heritage, with the announcement that the planning appeal for the Drews site has been dismissed.

The government planning inspector’s report was published today (14 May), stating that “[the] benefits do not outweigh the significant harm the proposal would have on the character and appearance of the area and the significance of a non-designated heritage asset”. At the appeal meeting on 24 March, Mary Neale on behalf of Bell Tower pointed out that the proposed development would be out of keeping with the existing buildings on the western side of Caversham Road and stressed the former malthouse’s long and varied history and contibution to the area’s character. Bell Tower’s representation was also strongly supported by our local councillors at the meeting.

Developer S2 Caversham was proposing to demolish the main building and build a seven-storey block of flats. The council’s planning committee initially refused the application in October 2020 after receiving a petition with more than 1200 signatures in favour of keeping the former malthouse, which the Bell Tower Community Association had succeeded in getting locally listed earlier in the year.

The developer will now almost certainly have to look at how the building might be adapted and produce a new design that is more harmonious with the former malthouse and the character of the local area.