Former city pub to be turned into bedsits

The Crompton Tavern in Crompton Street closed in 2016

A former Derby pub will be converted into bedsits after councillors reluctantly gave the project approval.

Plans to turn the former The Crompton Tavern in Crompton Street into 11 bedsits were approved at a Derby City Council meeting on Thursday.

The pub was closed in 2016 with the former landlord claiming the creation of the inner-city ring road had represented the death knell of the business.

Councillor Tim Prosser said he was "disappointed" with the plans, adding that he would have preferred a smaller number of self-contained flats.

The bedsits would have a shared kitchen and a communal lounge in the former basement beer cellar of the pub, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Prosser said: "Why can’t we just have a couple of lovely flats?

"Why has everything got to be a HMO [houses in multiple occupancy]?

“If I owned that property what would I do with it if I wanted to make money? I’d turn it into a HMO.

“If I wanted something lovely, it would be flats and flats is really what we should be encouraging.”

Councillors Gulfraz Nawaz and Lucy Care also expressed reservations before the plans were approved by a vote of five for and one against.