Major plans put forward for two landmark Black Country pubs

The Cottage Springs in Franchise Street, Wednesbury, closed in 2022 and a plan to convert the empty building into offices has been put forward by Phillip Boden.

The former Holden’s pub, which dates back to the 18th century, was put on the market for £265,000 last year after rising costs and falling trade forced the Black Country brewery to close its doors.

A new side and rear extension would also be built to make way for the new office space according to the application.

The new plans for the Cottage Springs are not the only development plans in the pipeline for former pubs in Wednesbury’s Franchise Street.

Nearly decade-old plans to turn the nearby former Forge Tavern into an eight-bed house of multiple occupation (HMO) have been revived after moves to turn the old watering hole into a community centre and Islamic tuition centre were rejected by Sandwell Council.

The local authority’s planners have turned down several moves to bring the old pub back to life in the last eight years including two moves to open an Islamic tuition centre and two seperate bids for a new community centre.

The efforts to breathe new life into the boarded-up pub, which closed in 2016, have included two separate applications to convert the building into an Islamic tuition centre.

Sandwell Council rejected those plans in 2018 and again in 2021 over concerns that poor public transport links and its ‘out-of-town-centre’ location could cause “severe” parking problems in the surrounding residential streets.

More plans to convert the pub into a community centre then came forward but were rejected in 2022 and in May 2024.

An earlier plan to convert the former watering hole into a house of multiple occupation (HMO) was approved by the council in 2017 – but the work was never carried out and has now been resubmitted after the three-year planning permission lapsed.