Flats plan for Oxford's Wheatsheaf gig venue withdrawn

The 150-capacity venue has been closed since the first coronavirus lockdown

Plans to convert one of Oxford city centre's last grassroots gig venues into student flats have been withdrawn.

The owner of the Wheatsheaf pub had submitted a planning application that said live music shows on the venue's first floor were "unsustainable".

More than 1,500 objections were made to the city council and high-profile acts such as indie band Glass Animals backed a campaign to stop the development.

A letter confirming the withdrawal was published on the council's website.

The 150-capacity venue, off the High Street, has been closed since the first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020, and the current tenant has given notice to leave.

Glass Animals bass and keys player Edmund Irwin-Singer described The Wheatsheaf as a "very important" venue

It has hosted live bands for 20 years, including Oxford acts Foals and Stornoway before they became better known.

The application was submitted by owner Glen de Unger, and had proposed replacing the venue with nine student rooms, a kitchen and common area.

This prompted many from the city's music scene to back the "Save the Sheaf" campaign.

Campaigner Micaela Tuckwell subsequently told a council meeting that Oxford was "at a crisis point in terms of the erosion of the critical infrastructure that our city's music scene needs for it to survive".

A statement on behalf of the applicant had previously described the venue as "cramped with poor ventilation" and said the pub's long-term future could be secured with the lower overheads.