An “old-style, gritty pub” in Bath which has welcomed punters for over two centuries will now be turned into a house.

The Full Moon in Twerton opened its bar in 1872 and was a popular pub for Bath City fans, located just down the road from Twerton Park. But it closed down in 2020 and sat vacant for 18 months until it was bought for £270,000 in January.

Now Bath and North East Somerset Council have granted its new owners planning permission to turn the pub into a six bed house.

Architect Robert Kann’s plans show that the main bar will become an open plan kitchen and dining room. The gents will become a utility room and the ladies would become bicycle storage.

The first floor conservatory will be demolished and an extension would be built over the main bar, which Mr Kann stated is in keeping with the building’s original layout.

A report by the council’s planning officers stated: “The removal of inappropriate modern additions such as a first floor conservatory, smoking shelter and other ‘ad hoc’ lean-to type structures would have a positive impact on the listed building.”

But Bath Preservation Trust warned that, although the pub had been vacant for months before it was purchased, it had originally been marketed as a public house. They warned there was not enough information about why it could not be kept as a pub. But council planning officers said that the benefits of redeveloping it as a house outweighed the negatives of losing a place of employment.

Another person who submitted comments on the planning application called on the council to impose a ban on the house being turned into a house in multiple occupation for 20 years if planning permission was granted, but planning officers said this would not be “reasonable.”

John Wimperis