Boston’s historic Britannia pub to be converted into apartments

Boston Borough Council has granted planning permission to transform the historic Britannia on 4-8 Church Street into four apartments.

Plans submitted by George Bateman and Son Ltd propose two two-bedroom apartments and two studio apartments.

The project includes new street-level doors and a glazed link providing access to a second-floor apartment.

In a design and access statement submitted with the plans, the applicant stated: “The proposed conversion of the public house into apartments has minimal impact in terms of scale at ground and first level, as this element of the proposal can be accommodated within the existing building.

“At second-floor level, a new structurally glazed box will contain a staircase to access a studio apartment. This element has been designed to be extensively glazed to ensure the impact on the host building is reduced and to permit views through, allowing the history of the building to be clearly read and understood.

“The structurally glazed intervention will sit below the eaves line of the existing gabled and hipped slate roofs to articulate the old and new.”

A heritage impact statement by Austin Heritage Consultants, also submitted as part of the application, details the Britannia’s history, explaining that it originally occupied 4 Church Street before expanding into 6 and 8 Church Street during the 20th century.

“George Bateman & Son Ltd have owned the site since at least the first half of the 20th century and there have been many occupants of the study area,” they wrote.

“The Britannia itself was occupied by beer house keepers/beer retailers such as the Gunby family, who are believed to have been at 4 Church Street for over 16 years and the Dowse family for over 10 years, during the 19th century. In the 20th century, it was occupied by the Daniel family for over 10 years, the Forinton family for over eight years, and the Good family for over 10 years, as well as others.

“Historically, the site and surrounding area, including the various heritage assets in the vicinity dating from the medieval period, are of a high level of local historical interest for their contribution to the development of the core of Boston along the riverside and near the church and Market Place, particularly from the 18th century onwards.”