Plan to turn pub into a Greggs bakery turned down

The plan to use the Royal Albion as a Greggs was rejected

A proposal to use a closed pub as a Greggs bakery has been dismissed after a council said it remained an important community asset.

The Royal Albion pub in Oxford Street, Reading, was sold by Greene Kings to developers in May 2024.

M & M Property Investments said the pub was "not commercially viable", partly because of an "oversaturation of pubs in the area", and that Greggs wanted to use the site.

But Reading Borough Council said using it as something else would have led to the "permanent loss" of a "valued community facility" and the developers had failed to show there was no need for it.