Plans to turn derelict Southampton pub into offices

The Roll Call pub in Netley has been shut since March 2022 when the operating lease ended.

Since then, the once popular watering hole has been gathering dust with ‘no success’ in finding new tenants.

Now, Venture Construction hope to give the building a new lease of life – but the planning application has been met with mixed views.

Roll Call pub (Image: Newsquest)

According to the applicant, the pub has “fallen into a degree of decline, suffering vandalism and break ins”.

“This has in turn attracted more unwanted attention, and the site has become an eyesore, rather than a positive and attractive ‘gateway building’”, they said.

Carol Smith, who lives opposite the pub, said she fully backs the application.

She said: “I have witnessed the demise of the building.

“It was obviously not economical for any brewery to continue with its use as a public house.

“I welcome the fencing of the site to keep the building secure.

“An office will be far less intrusive to the area than a retail outlet.”

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Fellow supporter Dave Parker, who lived at the pub for 22 years, said: “I think it’s great to see a professional and local company moving in to make good use of it.

“There’s no shortage of watering holes in the village with three bars and a social club, and I look forward to seeing my childhood home no longer rotting away and being put to good use.”

Venture Construction said the inability of previous owners to maintain the business may be due to the “success of The Cottage pub”, adding: “It seems highly likely that the two pubs in such close proximity were always likely to prove commercially unsustainable financially.”

But objectors fear the construction of offices will ruin the roads and wildlife and create noise pollution.

Danny Appleby said: “So sad to lose a lovely pub to an ugly builder’s merchant that will ruin the roads.

“What a nasty way to destroy a community by allowing this.”

A decision will be made by Eastleigh Borough Council ion September 17.