A FORMER popular Romsey hotel could be turned into flats and a kitchen showroom if given the green light by civic chiefs.

A planning application was submitted to Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) to create two flats and a maisonette spanning across the first and second floor of the Abbey Hotel, Church Street.

If approved, the ground floor of the property would be used by the kitchen company, Kutchenhaus, while a two-bedroom house would be built at the back of the site.

Now a community leader has hit out at the plans, claiming the homes will not help reel in tourists if there is one less bed and breakfast in the market town.

Cllr Dorothy Baverstock, who represents Romsey Cupernham on the borough council, said: "I am really disappointed because, although the Abbey Hotel has been closed for quite a long time, it was a very important aspect in town as it used to be a bed and breakfast.

"That is why the White Horse Hotel took over it before, because they were going to make more bedrooms.

"I am on the Romsey Future Tourism Group and I am trying to encourage people into the area, so I was hoping we may have also had a snazzy pub or restaurant there."

She added: "I feel it would have to be quite a stunning plan, as it is in a very central position and the main thing is it looks part of the old town.

"If Kutchenhaus moves to the Abbey Hotel there will be a big wedge of empty shops in the Market Place and the kitchen shop was the only thriving bit there."

However, Romsey town centre manager, Mark Edgerley, backed the plans to convert the former hotel into properties.

He said: "It is the best we can hope for because I have spoken to commercial agents since Christmas on a number of hotel-related things and there is just not the market for small hotels in town centres.

"If it had been a hotel down in Test Valley there might have been a benefit for it, but it just has ten bedrooms and is not a viable business."

Mr Edgerley added a separate planning application to make the downstairs windows deeper "has already been agreed", to ensure the former hotel looks like a shop.

A document submitted to TVBC by the applicant reads: "The site is in a high sustainable location and the residents with be able to access a whole range of local facilities and amenities without reliance on a car.

"As such no car parking provision is made on-site."

They added: "The ground floor retail unit will be occupied by Kutchenhaus.

"While they have an existing retail unit in Market Place the success of their business is such that it is too small for their existing operation and they need to relocate.

"There is a shortage of available retail accommodation within the centre of Romsey and so it is imperative Kutchenhaus has the opportunity of relocating to this site."

TVBC are due to decide on the plans on Thursday, June 11.

The agent for the plans, Sennitt Planning, has been contacted for comment.

As previously reported in the Romsey Advertiser, the Abbey Hotel was sold to property investor, The Brightbeech Group, after being on the market since July 2019.

Head of licensed leisure at Savills, Kevin Marsh, confirmed on Friday, 9 January the property had been sold and was on the market for £1.6 million.

The pub was set to reopen in 2015 under the management of Paul and Sarah Bingham who managed The White Horse in the Market Place.

However, despite Mr Bingham previously claiming they had a “refurbishment scheme in excess of £500,000” and that they were intending to “trade it as part of the White Horse Hotel and rebrand it as the Abbey Inn” the hotel never re-opened.