Prescott Jewellers at 2 Saturday Market can become a real ale pub, open until 11pm. Six letters of support, no objections, and it still needs a licence.
Beverley is getting a new pub on Saturday Market. East Riding of Yorkshire Council has approved turning the former Prescott Jewellers shop at 2 Saturday Market into a public house. The decision was issued on 22 September.
The building is the narrow red brick shop with the clock in its front gable, on the north side of the square. The plan is a small real ale pub, with the bar on the ground floor only.
What has been approved
The permission, reference 26/01781/PLF, changes the use from a shop to a pub and allows a small extension in the back yard. The officer report and the application papers set out how it will work:
- the bar and seating on the ground floor only
- toilets, a cellar and a small lift for barrels on the first floor
- the second-floor flat kept as a home for the pub’s manager
- a new accessible toilet and storage in a single-storey extension at the back
- no changes at all to the shop front, which the council’s conservation officer singled out as the most sensitive part of the building
The applicant’s design and access statement says the aim is “an old pub theme atmosphere” selling “real ales at affordable prices”. Hot food is not part of the plan. The statement says a first-floor kitchen could follow later, “if such an application was successful”.
The application form gives 62 square metres of floorspace changing use. It says the pub would employ four full-time staff, where the shop currently has none.
The opening hours are fixed by condition
The council’s environmental control team asked for the hours on the application to be made a condition, and they were. The pub may only be open to customers:
| Day | Hours |
|---|---|
| Monday to Saturday | 11am to 11pm |
| Sundays and bank holidays | 11am to 10pm |
The report says some noise and activity is “both expected and accepted” in a town centre. It concluded the pub would not have an unacceptable impact on neighbours.
Other conditions require:
- any new brick to match the old in colour, patina and scale
- a survey and photographic record before any work to internal historic features, such as fireplaces, plasterwork, doors and the staircase
- the top-floor flat to be lived in only by the owner, operator or staff of the pub
- work to start within three years
Nobody objected
The report records six letters of support and no objections. The Hull and East Yorkshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale was one of the supporters. Its letter called the plan “an imaginative repurposing of a currently vacant property”. It said the new micropub “will complement the existing outlets” in a town whose pub scene “fortunately is strong at present”.
Several supporters pointed to the applicant’s record running the Goodmanham Arms, and said they expected a traditional pub rather than a late-night bar. That is their view, as summarised in the officer report.
Beverley Town Council raised no objection. It asked only that the applicant keep working with the council’s conservation officer. The Beverley and District Civic Society supported reusing the building. It said it regretted the “earlier removal of historic internal shop fittings” but noted that the important features outside remain.
Why the building mattered
Number 2 is not listed, but the council treats it as a heritage asset in its own right. The conservation officer called it “a handsome and distinctive building”. The report notes its 19th century panelled shutters, the oriel window, the clock face and the decorative bargeboards on the gable.
It sits in the Beverley Conservation Area, next to two Grade II listed buildings: 1 Saturday Market and 2 North Bar Within. The officer found the scheme would cause no harm to any of them.
What it means for you
- It is not open yet, and there is no date. The permission allows the change of use. It does not say when the pub will open.
- It still needs a licence. In August the council’s licensing team said there was no premises licence for the building. One must be applied for before it can sell alcohol, and that application is a separate public process with its own chance to comment.
- There is no parking of its own. The report notes there is public parking nearby. Our guide to parking in Beverley lists every car park and its prices, and the square itself has just had its £530,000 makeover completed.
- You can read every document on the application, including the plans, on the council’s planning portal. More decisions from across the district are in our planning news.
Have your say